Short Interest in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Expands By 18.8%

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,470,000 shares, a growth of 18.8% from the January 15th total of 2,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 901,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Ardmore Shipping

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,010 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,252 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 99,389 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 1,302 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,482 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 37.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 4,890 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares during the period. 62.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ASC. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

ASC stock traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,334,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 715,677. The firm has a market capitalization of $436.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.84. Ardmore Shipping has a 52 week low of $10.22 and a 52 week high of $23.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last issued 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 36.22% and a return on equity of 23.63%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.17%.

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.