Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.00.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $13.64 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.33, a quick ratio of 3.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.49. The stock has a market cap of $555.35 million, a P/E ratio of 15.32 and a beta of -0.16. Ardmore Shipping has a 12-month low of $8.32 and a 12-month high of $16.91.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The shipping company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 7.02% and a net margin of 13.22%.The company had revenue of $82.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $51.00 million. Equities analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were issued a $0.09 dividend. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 40.45%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. Ticino Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter valued at $7,647,000. Marnell Management LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the 4th quarter worth $3,877,000. Moore Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at $3,177,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 848.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 324,295 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,849,000 after purchasing an additional 290,087 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,947,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

Ardmore Shipping Corporation is a Bermuda-based provider of seaborne transportation services for refined petroleum products. The company owns and operates a modern fleet of product tankers, including medium-range (MR), long-range 2 (LR2) and Aframax vessels. Ardmore Shipping focuses on the ocean carriage of clean and dirty petroleum products under time charters, bareboat charters and spot voyages, serving a diverse customer base that includes major oil companies and trading houses.

Since its founding in 2005, Ardmore Shipping has grown its fleet through newbuilding contracts, second-hand acquisitions and fleet renewals, aiming to maintain a high quality, fuel-efficient profile.