Savant Capital LLC Takes $269,000 Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Savant Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 22,152 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 99,389 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,799,000 after buying an additional 1,302 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 3.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,482 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $769,000 after buying an additional 1,304 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 261.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 10.1% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 22,204 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 2,041 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASC opened at $10.50 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 3.57 and a quick ratio of 3.26. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 1-year low of $10.22 and a 1-year high of $23.44. The company has a market capitalization of $439.15 million, a P/E ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.25. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $14.60.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 36.22% and a return on equity of 23.63%. Research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is currently 20.17%.

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.