Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 95,700 Antero Midstream Co. (NYSE:AM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Antero Midstream Co. (NYSE:AM) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 95,700 shares of the pipeline company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,199,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AM. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Antero Midstream during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Antero Midstream during the 4th quarter worth approximately $127,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Antero Midstream during the 4th quarter worth approximately $127,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Antero Midstream by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 11,191 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Antero Midstream during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $155,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.97% of the company’s stock.

Antero Midstream Stock Performance

NYSE AM opened at $14.01 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.88. Antero Midstream Co. has a 12-month low of $9.69 and a 12-month high of $14.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a market cap of $6.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.19 and a beta of 2.25.

Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The pipeline company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.03. Antero Midstream had a net margin of 35.69% and a return on equity of 19.96%. The business had revenue of $260.17 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. Antero Midstream’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Antero Midstream Co. will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Antero Midstream Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 24th will be given a $0.225 dividend. This represents a $0.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 23rd. Antero Midstream’s payout ratio is currently 116.88%.

Insider Activity at Antero Midstream

In related news, insider Sheri Pearce sold 16,394 shares of Antero Midstream stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.67, for a total value of $224,105.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 170,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,327,536.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Antero Midstream from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 30th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. downgraded shares of Antero Midstream from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Antero Midstream presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.70.

About Antero Midstream

Antero Midstream Corporation owns, operates, and develops midstream energy assets in the Appalachian Basin. It operates in two segments, Gathering and Processing, and Water Handling. The Gathering and Processing segment includes a network of gathering pipelines and compressor stations that collects and processes production from Antero Resources' wells in West Virginia and Ohio.