Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Shares Bought by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 34.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 712,587 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 183,393 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $8,658,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ASC. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 261.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,116 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 302.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,519 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 228.1% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 3,422 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in Ardmore Shipping in the fourth quarter valued at about $123,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of ASC stock opened at $9.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $372.79 million, a P/E ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $9.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.94. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 52 week low of $8.32 and a 52 week high of $23.44. The company has a quick ratio of 3.86, a current ratio of 4.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share (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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.