Wellington Management Group LLP Trims Stock Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 9.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,134,151 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 122,202 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 2.71% of Ardmore Shipping worth $20,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ASC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 51.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,103 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,885,000 after buying an additional 182,650 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 15.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,934 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 1,634 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 72.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 12.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 131,120 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after buying an additional 14,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter valued at approximately $434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $11.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $474.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.31. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $10.86 and a twelve month high of $23.44.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASC has been the topic of several research reports. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com cut Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus cut Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardmore Shipping presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

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.