Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) Plans $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the shipping company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Ardmore Shipping has raised its dividend by an average of 184.4% annually over the last three years. Ardmore Shipping has a dividend payout ratio of 68.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Ardmore Shipping to earn $1.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.4%.

Ardmore Shipping Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of ASC opened at $12.86 on Friday. Ardmore Shipping has a one year low of $12.69 and a one year high of $23.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $16.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 3.18 and a current ratio of 3.50. The company has a market capitalization of $538.06 million, a P/E ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.37.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on ASC. StockNews.com cut Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Fearnley Fonds upgraded Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

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.