Sunbelt Securities Inc. Invests $54,000 in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,266 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,816,000 after acquiring an additional 134,233 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth about $212,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 31,330 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $173,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 87.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 2,042 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ASC. StockNews.com raised Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ASC opened at $22.53 on Monday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 1 year low of $11.70 and a 1 year high of $23.44. The firm has a market cap of $915.33 million, a P/E ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $106.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.46 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.15% and a return on equity of 21.06%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were paid a $0.31 dividend. This is an increase from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.51%.

Ardmore Shipping 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.