Ardmore Shipping's (ASC) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Jefferies Financial Group

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $17.00 price target on the shipping company's stock. Jefferies Financial Group's price objective indicates a potential upside of 63.04% from the stock's current price.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus cut Ardmore Shipping from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Performance

ASC traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $10.43. 1,334,703 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 715,677. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $11.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $436.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.25. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Ardmore Shipping has a 1-year low of $10.22 and a 1-year high of $23.44.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 23.63% and a net margin of 36.22%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ardmore Shipping will post 2.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASC. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 77.2% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 43,784 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 19,080 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,631,000. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth approximately $212,000. ProShare Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ardmore Shipping in the 4th quarter worth approximately $142,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ardmore Shipping by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 791,342 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $9,615,000 after purchasing an additional 6,156 shares in the last quarter. 62.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.