Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Announces Earnings Results

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The shipping company reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.05, Briefing.com reports. Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 22.76% and a net margin of 29.50%. The company had revenue of $106.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of ASC traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $20.58. 260,941 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 639,124. The firm has a market cap of $836.10 million, a P/E ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 3.38 and a current ratio of 3.75. Ardmore Shipping has a 52-week low of $11.59 and a 52-week high of $20.72. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.31.

Ardmore Shipping Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.03%. This is a positive change from Ardmore Shipping’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASC has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

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.