Ardmore Shipping Corporation $ASC Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Corporation (NYSE:ASC) by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,642,656 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,788 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $15,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ASC. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 6.3% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,263 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $173,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,019,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 1st quarter valued at about $371,000. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $334,000. 62.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $12.10 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $12.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.23. The company has a market capitalization of $491.30 million, a PE ratio of 15.51 and a beta of -0.11. Ardmore Shipping Corporation has a 12-month low of $8.32 and a 12-month high of $13.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 4.46 and a quick ratio of 4.08.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The shipping company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.03. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 11.50%.The firm had revenue of $81.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping Corporation will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is presently 51.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.67.

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.