YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 6,250,785 shares, a drop of 15.6% from the March 31st total of 7,405,484 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,397,128 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other YPF Sociedad Anónima news, VP Marcelo Gustavo Aldeco sold 12,719 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.61, for a total transaction of $554,675.59. Following the sale, the vice president owned 101 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,404.61. This trade represents a 99.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Mauricio Alejandro Martin sold 3,430 shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.60, for a total transaction of $149,548.00. Following the sale, the vice president owned 14 shares in the company, valued at approximately $610.40. The trade was a 99.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing.

Institutional Trading of YPF Sociedad Anónima

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Candriam S.C.A. boosted its stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 202.0% during the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 444,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $20,522,000 after purchasing an additional 297,000 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the first quarter valued at $237,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the first quarter valued at $6,512,000. Equinox Partners Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the first quarter valued at $21,585,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the first quarter valued at $2,749,000. 10.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on YPF. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

YPF Sociedad Anónima Trading Down 3.8%

YPF stock traded down $1.74 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.42. 1,685,495 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,116,732. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.08 billion, a PE ratio of -20.58 and a beta of 1.30. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a one year low of $22.82 and a one year high of $48.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.26.

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The oil and gas exploration company reported ($1.67) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($2.44). The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 million. YPF Sociedad Anónima had a negative net margin of 4.48% and a negative return on equity of 0.26%. Equities research analysts expect that YPF Sociedad Anónima will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

About YPF Sociedad Anónima

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE: YPF) is an integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The company’s primary businesses encompass upstream exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas, midstream transportation and storage, and downstream refining and distribution. YPF operates several major refineries and a nationwide network of service stations, supplying fuels, lubricants, and petrochemical products to both retail and industrial customers.

Founded in 1922 as Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales, YPF was the world’s first state‐owned oil company.