Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 11,170 Shares of Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 74,792 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,170 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Antero Resources were worth $2,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 4.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,460,062 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $500,231,000 after acquiring an additional 675,053 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Antero Resources by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,852,246 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $139,054,000 after buying an additional 61,490 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in Antero Resources by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,378,849 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $125,452,000 after buying an additional 411,549 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Antero Resources in the 4th quarter worth approximately $140,020,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Antero Resources by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,664,628 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $76,342,000 after buying an additional 122,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.04% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total value of $7,952,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,568,000. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AR. UBS Group upped their price objective on Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com upgraded Antero Resources to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Antero Resources from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Antero Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Antero Resources from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Antero Resources presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.47.

Antero Resources Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of AR stock opened at $37.63 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.59 and a beta of 3.38. Antero Resources Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.53 and a fifty-two week high of $41.53.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.14. Antero Resources had a return on equity of 0.74% and a net margin of 2.31%. Research analysts expect that Antero Resources Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Antero Resources

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.