30,950 Shares in Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC Bought by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 30,950 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $578,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth approximately $53,878,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,452,462 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $37,399,000 after purchasing an additional 24,244 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth $27,780,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 18.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,736,632 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $26,484,000 after purchasing an additional 266,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flat Footed LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth about $13,293,599. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:ASC opened at $19.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 5.26, a quick ratio of 4.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $796.11 million, a PE ratio of 7.80 and a beta of 0.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $18.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.86. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 1 year low of $10.31 and a 1 year high of $21.34.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The shipping company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $87.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.67 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 30.11% and a return on equity of 15.38%.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 27th. This is a drop from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 117.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

About Ardmore Shipping

Ardmore Shipping Corporation is an international shipping company that owns and operates product and chemical tankers. Its vessels transport refined petroleum products and chemicals for customers in global seaborne markets. The company’s fleet includes medium-range and smaller tankers designed to carry cargoes such as clean petroleum products and liquid chemicals. Ardmore provides ocean transportation services to energy companies, commodity traders and other shipping customers. Founded in 2010, Ardmore is headquartered in Bermuda and serves international shipping routes.