Private Management Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Private Management Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,609,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 95,884 shares during the quarter. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $22,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the third quarter valued at $141,000. MJP Associates Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the third quarter worth about $161,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the third quarter valued at $183,000. 62.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of ASC stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $16.32. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 429,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 642,428. The company has a 50 day moving average of $16.19 and a 200 day moving average of $14.97. The stock has a market cap of $663.08 million, a PE ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 3.75, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 12-month low of $11.59 and a 12-month high of $17.05.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The shipping company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $98.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.26 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 29.50% and a return on equity of 22.76%. Ardmore Shipping’s quarterly revenue was down 25.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

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.