Morgan Stanley Upgrades Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) to “Overweight”

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $36.00 price objective on the oil and natural gas company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $26.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.76% from the company’s current price.

AR has been the subject of several other research reports. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. upgraded shares of Antero Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Benchmark lowered shares of Antero Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Antero Resources presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.69.

Antero Resources Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE AR opened at $28.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.21. The stock has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a PE ratio of 37.47 and a beta of 3.30. Antero Resources has a twelve month low of $19.91 and a twelve month high of $30.90.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.04. Antero Resources had a return on equity of 2.10% and a net margin of 5.19%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Antero Resources will post 0.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 232,293 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.85, for a total value of $6,004,774.05. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,550,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 206,978 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.15, for a total value of $5,412,474.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,793,022 shares in the company, valued at $99,187,525.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 232,293 shares of Antero Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.85, for a total transaction of $6,004,774.05. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $77,550,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 467,280 shares of company stock worth $12,153,605. 5.95% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Antero Resources

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AR. Oslo Asset Management AS lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Oslo Asset Management AS now owns 300,000 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $6,804,000 after purchasing an additional 180,000 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 129.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,508,156 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $34,205,000 after acquiring an additional 850,940 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in Antero Resources by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 14,685 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Antero Resources by 666.2% during the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 49,216 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 42,793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Antero Resources by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 27,520,782 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $698,477,000 after purchasing an additional 113,864 shares in the last quarter. 83.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.