Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 27,619 Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 27,619 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $968,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 83.7% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 26,467 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $928,000 after acquiring an additional 12,062 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $139,054,000 after acquiring an additional 61,490 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $76,342,000 after acquiring an additional 122,815 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 1,423.0% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,544 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 7,983 shares during the period. Finally, Capital CS Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Antero Resources in the 4th quarter valued at $615,000. 83.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AR. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Williams Trading set a $48.00 target price on Antero Resources in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Antero Resources from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $71,568,000. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 6.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Antero Resources Stock Performance

Shares of AR stock opened at $40.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.66 billion, a PE ratio of 127.18 and a beta of 3.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Antero Resources Co. has a 52-week low of $24.53 and a 52-week high of $41.53.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Antero Resources Co. will post 2.74 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.