Wellington Management Group LLP Raises Position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 23.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 696,697 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 134,233 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.71% of Ardmore Shipping worth $9,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ASC. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping during the fourth quarter worth approximately $423,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 606,898 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,551,000 after buying an additional 205,245 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 87.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 2,042 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 23.6% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 291,861 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,797,000 after buying an additional 55,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,758,657 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $38,870,000 after acquiring an additional 56,984 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of ASC stock opened at $22.76 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $20.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.43. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 12 month low of $11.59 and a 12 month high of $23.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The company has a market capitalization of $924.74 million, a PE ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.43.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The shipping company reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.05. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 21.06% and a net margin of 29.15%. The firm had revenue of $106.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.46 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 31st. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 47.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 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.