Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.05 EPS

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) released its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of ASC stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $20.58. 260,941 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 639,124. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $16.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.31. Ardmore Shipping has a fifty-two week low of $11.59 and a fifty-two week high of $20.72. The company has a market cap of $836.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.36. 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 Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th.

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.