Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Announces $0.38 Dividend

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) announced a dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.38 per share by the shipping company on Friday, September 13th. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th.

Ardmore Shipping has increased its dividend payment by an average of 184.4% per year over the last three years. Ardmore Shipping has a payout ratio of 41.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ardmore Shipping to earn $2.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.1%.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $21.67 on Thursday. Ardmore Shipping has a 12-month low of $11.78 and a 12-month high of $23.44. The company has a market cap of $880.45 million, a P/E ratio of 8.30 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $21.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.54.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.05. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 29.15%. The firm had revenue of $106.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASC has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Ardmore Shipping Company Profile

Ardmore Shipping Corporation engages in the seaborne transportation of petroleum products and chemicals worldwide. The company's fleet consists of 22 owned vessels including 21 Eco-design and 1 Eco-mod vessel, and four chartered-in vessels. It serves oil majors, oil companies, oil and chemical traders, chemical companies, and pooling service providers.