Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Antero Resources (NYSE:AR)

Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 10,389 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 45% compared to the average daily volume of 7,153 call options.

Insider Activity

In related 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 shares were sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total transaction of $7,952,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,568,000. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AR. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Antero Resources by 83.7% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 26,467 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 12,062 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Antero Resources by 1.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 61,490 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Antero Resources during the 4th quarter worth about $556,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Antero Resources by 4.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 122,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Antero Resources by 1,423.0% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,544 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 7,983 shares during the last quarter. 83.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AR has been the subject of several research reports. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.06.

Antero Resources Stock Down 0.7 %

AR opened at $40.70 on Friday. Antero Resources has a fifty-two week low of $24.53 and a fifty-two week high of $41.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.99. The company has a market capitalization of $12.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.18 and a beta of 3.38.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.14. Antero Resources had a net margin of 2.31% and a return on equity of 0.74%. On average, analysts anticipate that Antero Resources will post 2.74 EPS for the current 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.