Heartland Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 37,625 Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR)

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors Inc. has acquired a new stake in Antero Resources Corporation, purchasing 37,625 shares valued at approximately $1.52 million.
• Insiders of Antero Resources recently sold over 1.1 million shares of company stock, with significant decreases observed in their ownership percentages following the transactions.
• Analysts are mixed on Antero Resources, with upgrades from Mizuho and TD Cowen raising price targets, while Wells Fargo lowered theirs, resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $44.18.

Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 37,625 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock, valued at approximately $1,522,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Antero Resources by 12.6% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Antero Resources by 133.1% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,743,957 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $151,406,000 after acquiring an additional 2,137,538 shares during the last quarter. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Antero Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,980,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Antero Resources by 12.1% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 1,274,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Antero Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,525,000. 83.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 38,013 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.32, for a total value of $1,532,684.16. Following the sale, the director owned 364,992 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,716,477.44. The trade was a 9.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Yvette K. Schultz sold 25,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.86, for a total transaction of $1,004,472.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 306,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,229,805.34. This represents a 7.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,125,200 shares of company stock valued at $45,887,466. 6.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Antero Resources Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:AR traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.94. The stock had a trading volume of 1,671,921 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,089,920. The firm has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46 and a beta of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Antero Resources Corporation has a twelve month low of $24.53 and a twelve month high of $44.01.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.10. Antero Resources had a return on equity of 4.01% and a net margin of 5.96%. The business had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.12 EPS. Antero Resources's revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Antero Resources Corporation will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank set a $53.00 target price on shares of Antero Resources and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $41.00 to $39.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of Antero Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $44.18.

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.