Short Interest in Antero Midstream Co. (NYSE:AM) Grows By 6.1%

Antero Midstream Co. (NYSE:AM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,120,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the August 31st total of 9,540,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Insider Activity at Antero Midstream

In related news, insider Sheri Pearce sold 23,518 shares of Antero Midstream stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.59, for a total transaction of $343,127.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 130,349 shares in the company, valued at $1,901,791.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Antero Midstream

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Antero Midstream by 314.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,862,900 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $27,459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413,606 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Antero Midstream by 46.6% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 3,174,399 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $44,632,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,515 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Antero Midstream by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,959,243 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $41,607,000 after purchasing an additional 694,243 shares in the last quarter. SIR Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Antero Midstream during the 2nd quarter valued at $8,251,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Antero Midstream by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,513,473 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $18,964,000 after purchasing an additional 507,577 shares during the period. 53.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Antero Midstream from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com cut Antero Midstream from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.88.

Antero Midstream Stock Performance

Shares of Antero Midstream stock traded up $0.16 on Tuesday, reaching $15.21. 2,292,559 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,673,158. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $14.52 and a 200 day moving average of $14.41. Antero Midstream has a 52 week low of $11.50 and a 52 week high of $15.30.

Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The pipeline company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.04). Antero Midstream had a net margin of 36.19% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The business had revenue of $269.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $274.66 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. Antero Midstream’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Antero Midstream will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Antero Midstream Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 24th were given a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 24th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.92%. Antero Midstream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 112.50%.

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.