Inspire Investing LLC Purchases New Shares in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 47,943 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $868,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ASC. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,816,000 after buying an additional 134,233 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter worth $54,000. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in Ardmore Shipping during the first quarter valued at $166,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the first quarter valued at $376,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 2.2 %

Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $17.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 3.50. The stock has a market cap of $702.44 million, a PE ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.42. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a one year low of $12.69 and a one year high of $23.44.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 36.31% and a return on equity of 24.26%. The firm had revenue of $121.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 3.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.38 per share. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on ASC shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.67.

About Ardmore Shipping

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.