Koss Olinger Consulting LLC Purchases 9,716 Shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Koss Olinger Consulting LLC boosted its position in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 30.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,728 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 9,716 shares during the quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ASC. Foundry Partners LLC raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 217.5% in the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 565,300 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $10,232,000 after purchasing an additional 387,240 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 255.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 465,777 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,659,000 after purchasing an additional 334,704 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,204,828 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $14,639,000 after purchasing an additional 168,731 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 830,420 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $10,090,000 after purchasing an additional 161,670 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Ardmore Shipping by 406.6% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 97,836 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 78,524 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Ardmore Shipping in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Ardmore Shipping from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ardmore Shipping currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

NYSE ASC opened at $10.52 on Thursday. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a one year low of $8.83 and a one year high of $23.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $10.96 and a 200 day moving average of $13.18. The company has a market capitalization of $425.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 3.86 and a current ratio of 4.24.

Ardmore Shipping (NYSE:ASC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The shipping company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.08). Ardmore Shipping had a return on equity of 20.48% and a net margin of 32.78%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ardmore Shipping Co. will post 1.06 EPS for the current year.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Ardmore Shipping’s payout ratio is 10.46%.

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.