Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,500,000 shares, an increase of 18.5% from the September 15th total of 2,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 524,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 72.7% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 322.0% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,249 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 22,248 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $501,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the second quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of ASC traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $17.29. The company had a trading volume of 381,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 628,287. The company has a market capitalization of $702.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.35. Ardmore Shipping has a 12-month low of $12.69 and a 12-month high of $23.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.42. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $121.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.51 million. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 24.26% and a net margin of 36.31%. Ardmore Shipping’s quarterly revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. Research analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping will post 3.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.79%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ASC. StockNews.com lowered Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.67.

Ardmore Shipping Company 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.