Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The shipping company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. Ardmore Shipping’s quarterly revenue was down 10.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

Shares of Ardmore Shipping stock traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $20.43. The company had a trading volume of 1,289,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 643,609. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 3.75 and a quick ratio of 3.38. Ardmore Shipping has a one year low of $11.59 and a one year high of $20.52. The firm has a market cap of $830.01 million, a PE ratio of 7.45 and a beta of 0.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.28.

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 paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.07%. 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 payout ratio is currently 30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday.

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.