Boston Partners Decreases Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Boston Partners lowered its position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 86,818 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 1,630 shares during the period. Boston Partners’ holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $1,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,355 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 6,553 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 58.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 131,073 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,372,000 after purchasing an additional 48,598 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ardmore Shipping during the third quarter valued at about $259,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ardmore Shipping in the third quarter worth about $427,000. 62.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ASC opened at $10.02 on Friday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 1 year low of $8.83 and a 1 year high of $23.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 4.24 and a quick ratio of 3.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10.85 and its 200 day moving average is $13.07. The company has a market cap of $405.16 million, a PE ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.24.

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

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 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.