Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Director Sells $315,448.26 in Stock

Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) Director Curtis Mcwilliams sold 16,277 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.38, for a total value of $315,448.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 60,673 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,842.74. The trade was a 21.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASC traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $18.83. The stock had a trading volume of 842,979 shares, compared to its average volume of 716,039. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 12-month low of $9.18 and a 12-month high of $20.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $767.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.16 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a quick ratio of 4.43, a current ratio of 4.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.89.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 9.63%. The firm had revenue of $87.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.08 million.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.3%. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 27.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $19.00 price objective on Ardmore Shipping in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.00.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 10.2% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 7,358 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 680 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,219 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 24,701 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,047 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 361,658 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,830,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

About Ardmore Shipping

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.