Ardmore Shipping Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.18 (NYSE:ASC)

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the shipping company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Ardmore Shipping has raised its dividend payment 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. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASC traded down $0.30 during trading on Thursday, hitting $12.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,007,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 627,564. Ardmore Shipping has a 12 month low of $12.69 and a 12 month high of $23.44. The firm has a market cap of $540.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.87 and a 200-day moving average of $19.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 3.18.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The shipping company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. Ardmore Shipping had a net margin of 36.31% and a return on equity of 24.26%. The company had revenue of $61.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.77 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ardmore Shipping will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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 research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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 shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Fearnley Fonds raised shares of Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently 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.