Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Antero Resources Call Options (NYSE:AR)

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

Insider Activity at Antero Resources

In related 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 transaction, the director now owns 1,800,000 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Antero Resources

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Antero Resources by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,574,973 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,036,603,000 after purchasing an additional 214,060 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Antero Resources by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,661,491 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $689,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,201,429 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Antero Resources by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,829,263 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $414,628,000 after acquiring an additional 1,274,760 shares in the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC raised its holdings in Antero Resources by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 6,355,724 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $222,768,000 after acquiring an additional 231,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 61,490 shares in the last quarter. 83.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AR. Citigroup increased their price objective on Antero Resources from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Antero Resources to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Antero Resources from $28.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Williams Trading set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.06.

Antero Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AR opened at $40.96 on Friday. 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 cap of $12.75 billion, a PE ratio of 128.00 and a beta of 3.38. Antero Resources has a one year low of $24.53 and a one year high of $41.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.33 and a 200 day moving average of $32.89.

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 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Antero Resources will post 2.74 EPS 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.