Empowered Funds LLC Has $3.76 Million Stock Holdings in Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 207,875 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 10,586 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Ardmore Shipping were worth $3,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Ardmore Shipping by 47.2% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,400,981 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $31,564,000 after acquiring an additional 449,200 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 27.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,124,835 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $25,343,000 after purchasing an additional 241,748 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 51.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,103 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,885,000 after buying an additional 182,650 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardmore Shipping by 135.1% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 308,200 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $6,936,000 after buying an additional 177,130 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Ardmore Shipping by 82.7% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 241,455 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,440,000 after buying an additional 109,312 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ardmore Shipping currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.00.

Ardmore Shipping Stock Up 1.4 %

ASC stock opened at $11.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.06. Ardmore Shipping Co. has a 12 month low of $11.59 and a 12 month high of $23.44. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $499.38 million, a P/E ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.37.

Ardmore Shipping Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.03%. Ardmore Shipping’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.17%.

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.