AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 18.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 106,926 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 16,633 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.26% of Ardmore Shipping worth $2,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,400,981 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,564,000 after buying an additional 449,200 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 27.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,124,835 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $25,343,000 after purchasing an additional 241,748 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 51.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,103 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,885,000 after purchasing an additional 182,650 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,012,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 135.1% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 308,200 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,936,000 after purchasing an additional 177,130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of ASC stock opened at $18.06 on Wednesday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a twelve month low of $12.60 and a twelve month high of $23.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.37. The company has a market capitalization of $733.52 million, a P/E ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 0.35.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $121.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $80.51 million. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 36.31% and a return on equity of 24.26%. Ardmore Shipping’s quarterly revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.24%.

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.