Traders Buy High Volume of Amplify Energy Call Options (NYSE:AMPY)

Amplify Energy Corp. (NYSE:AMPY) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 5,005 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 901% compared to the typical daily volume of 500 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AMPY shares. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $8.50 target price on Amplify Energy in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Alliance Global Partners reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Amplify Energy in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Amplify Energy in a research report on Thursday, January 16th.

Amplify Energy Stock Down 12.0 %

NYSE AMPY opened at $3.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $131.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.33. Amplify Energy has a 1-year low of $3.25 and a 1-year high of $8.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.60 and a 200-day moving average of $5.81.

Amplify Energy (NYSE:AMPY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 5th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.17). Amplify Energy had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 16.22%. The company had revenue of $69.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.04 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Amplify Energy will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James Frew acquired 15,000 shares of Amplify Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $3.85 per share, with a total value of $57,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 54,222 shares in the company, valued at $208,754.70. This trade represents a 38.24 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Deborah G. Adams acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $4.14 per share, for a total transaction of $41,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 61,961 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $256,518.54. This trade represents a 19.25 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 50,000 shares of company stock valued at $194,900 over the last 90 days. 1.96% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amplify Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AMPY. Rangeley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Amplify Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,154,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Amplify Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,197,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Amplify Energy by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,085,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,514,000 after purchasing an additional 229,608 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in Amplify Energy during the fourth quarter worth $1,022,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Amplify Energy by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,463,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,779,000 after purchasing an additional 88,707 shares in the last quarter. 42.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amplify Energy Company Profile

Amplify Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, development, exploitation, and production of oil and natural gas properties in the United States. The company’s properties consist of operated and non-operated working interests in producing and undeveloped leasehold acreage, as well as working interests in identified producing wells located in Oklahoma, the Rockies, federal waters offshore Southern California, East Texas/North Louisiana, and Eagle Ford.