Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.69.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Antero Resources from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Antero Resources to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Antero Resources from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Sheri Pearce sold 28,009 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total transaction of $736,356.61. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 106,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,805,090.42. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 232,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.85, for a total transaction of $6,004,774.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,550,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Sheri Pearce sold 28,009 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total transaction of $736,356.61. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 106,698 shares in the company, valued at $2,805,090.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 467,280 shares of company stock valued at $12,153,605 in the last 90 days. 5.95% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,694,160 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $628,104,000 after buying an additional 173,378 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,537,261 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $238,985,000 after buying an additional 2,655,604 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,840,690 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $256,380,000 after buying an additional 917,338 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,659,033 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $128,352,000 after buying an additional 1,253,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,340,434 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $75,761,000 after acquiring an additional 285,485 shares during the period. 83.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Antero Resources Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of AR opened at $33.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Antero Resources has a 12-month low of $19.91 and a 12-month high of $34.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 169.00 and a beta of 3.30.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.06 billion. Antero Resources had a net margin of 1.50% and a return on equity of 0.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Antero Resources will post 0.33 EPS for the current year.

Antero Resources Company Profile

Antero Resources Corporation, an independent oil and natural gas company, engages in the development, production, exploration, and acquisition of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and oil properties in the United States. It operates in three segments: Exploration and Development; Marketing; and Equity Method Investment in Antero Midstream.