Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Buys New Stake in Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 60,000 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,103,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Antero Resources by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,574,973 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $1,036,603,000 after acquiring an additional 214,060 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 valued at $689,135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,201,429 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,274,760 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Antero Resources during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $140,020,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Antero Resources by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,851,355 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $99,940,000 after purchasing an additional 186,727 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.04% of the company’s stock.

Antero Resources Stock Up 4.2%

AR opened at $41.04 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. Antero Resources Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.53 and a fifty-two week high of $42.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 128.25 and a beta of 0.66.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.78 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 firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.12 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Antero Resources Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AR. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Antero Resources to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.72.

Insider Activity

In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 1,800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,568,000. This trade represents a 10.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

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.