South Dakota Investment Council Has $803,000 Stock Position in Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR)

South Dakota Investment Council trimmed its stake in Antero Resources Corporation (NYSE:AR - Free Report) by 77.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,858 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after selling 68,945 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council's holdings in Antero Resources were worth $803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Antero Resources by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,574,973 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,036,603,000 after purchasing an additional 214,060 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Antero Resources by 12.6% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 2,201,429 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,274,760 shares during the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC increased its stake in Antero Resources by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC now owns 6,355,724 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $222,768,000 after purchasing an additional 231,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased 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 purchasing an additional 2,137,538 shares during the last quarter. 83.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price target on Antero Resources from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $39.00 price target on Antero Resources and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho upgraded Antero Resources from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Antero Resources in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Antero Resources from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $44.18.

Insider Activity at Antero Resources

In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 1,061,987 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.82, for a total transaction of $43,350,309.34. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 38,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,551,690.66. The trade was a 96.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Yvette K. Schultz sold 25,200 shares of the company'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 sale, the insider owned 306,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,229,805.34. The trade was a 7.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,125,200 shares of company stock valued at $45,887,466 in the last 90 days. 6.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Antero Resources Stock Performance

AR stock traded up $0.79 during trading on Thursday, reaching $33.35. 3,560,152 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,094,149. Antero Resources Corporation has a twelve month low of $24.53 and a twelve month high of $44.01. The company has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.87. 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 (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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.10. Antero Resources had a net margin of 5.96% and a return on equity of 4.01%. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. Antero Resources's quarterly revenue was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Antero Resources Corporation will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

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.