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

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,413,554 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 279,403 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $17,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ASC. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,204,828 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $14,639,000 after buying an additional 168,731 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 406.6% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 97,836 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after buying an additional 78,524 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 218,529 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $2,655,000 after buying an additional 10,654 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 34,398 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 3,043 shares in the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.67.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

NYSE ASC opened at $9.60 on Monday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a fifty-two week low of $8.32 and a fifty-two week high of $23.16. The stock has a market cap of $389.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.14 and a beta of -0.02. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.53 and a 200-day moving average of $10.65. The company has a quick ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The shipping company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $74.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.04 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 32.78% and a return on equity of 20.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 30.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 2.05%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 8.77%.

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.