Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,262,605 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 268,648 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.41% of Antero Resources worth $44,254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AR. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Antero Resources by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 59,482 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,085,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,060 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Antero Resources by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 16,597 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 354 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 14,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $503,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Antero Resources by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 58,401 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,047,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. 83.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Antero Resources

In other news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 200,000 shares of Antero Resources 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 sale, the director now owns 1,800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,568,000. The trade was a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Antero Resources Stock Performance

AR opened at $38.69 on Friday. Antero Resources Co. has a twelve month low of $24.53 and a twelve month high of $42.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a PE ratio of 120.91 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.17.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.10. Antero Resources had a return on equity of 0.74% and a net margin of 2.31%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.28 billion. The business’s revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Antero Resources Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AR has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Antero Resources to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Antero Resources in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Antero Resources from $44.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.39.

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.