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

Ardmore Shipping Co. (NYSE:ASC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the shipping company on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Ardmore Shipping has increased its dividend by an average of 184.4% annually over the last three years. Ardmore Shipping has a payout ratio of 38.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Ardmore Shipping to earn $1.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.4%.

Ardmore Shipping Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASC opened at $11.40 on Thursday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $15.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $476.98 million, a P/E ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.37. Ardmore Shipping has a 52 week low of $11.11 and a 52 week high of $23.44.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ASC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Ardmore Shipping from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Fearnley Fonds upgraded shares of Ardmore Shipping to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Ardmore Shipping from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

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.