Martingale Asset Management L P Lowers Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Martingale Asset Management L P reduced its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,289 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 13,372 shares during the quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P owned about 0.18% of Ardmore Shipping worth $939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 99,389 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after buying an additional 1,302 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in Ardmore Shipping by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 80,449 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,456,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 24,467 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $443,000 after purchasing an additional 7,010 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 782,368 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $14,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,922 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 13.9% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 37,490 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567 shares in the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 6.5 %

Shares of Ardmore Shipping stock opened at $9.32 on Friday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 52-week low of $8.32 and a 52-week high of $23.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $9.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.15. The company has a quick ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $377.16 million, a P/E ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.16.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 32.78%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.46%.

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.