Antero Resources Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AR)

Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 101,384 call options on the company. This is an increase of 812% compared to the average daily volume of 11,119 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on AR shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Antero Resources from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered Antero Resources from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Mizuho set a $47.00 price objective on Antero Resources in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Antero Resources in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Antero Resources in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.60.

Antero Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:AR opened at $34.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.27 and a 200 day moving average of $33.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31. Antero Resources has a 1-year low of $29.10 and a 1-year high of $44.01.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.38). The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. Antero Resources had a net margin of 11.73% and a return on equity of 7.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.07) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Antero Resources will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Antero Resources

In other news, insider Brendan E. Krueger bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $33.35 per share, for a total transaction of $166,750.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 295,917 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,868,831.95. This trade represents a 1.72% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Antero Resources by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 17,144 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $591,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403 shares during the period. Journey Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 25,975 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 975 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 86,533 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $2,982,000 after buying an additional 7,356 shares in the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Antero Resources by 344.4% in the 4th quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 44,391 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 34,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Antero Resources by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 20,196 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $696,000 after acquiring an additional 5,826 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.04% of the company’s stock.

About Antero Resources

Antero Resources Corporation is an independent exploration and production company focused on the development of natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs) and oil properties in the Appalachian Basin of the United States. The company’s operations target the Marcellus and Utica shales, where it applies advanced drilling and completion techniques to optimize recovery from its large acreage position. Antero’s portfolio encompasses significant reserves of ethane, propane and other NGLs, alongside dry gas volumes that are positioned to serve both domestic and export markets.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Antero Resources holds approximately 1.8 million net acres of leasehold interests across parts of West Virginia and Ohio.