Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) Shares Sold by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,112 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock after selling 621 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Antero Resources were worth $775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Antero Resources by 4.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 17,460,062 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $500,231,000 after buying an additional 675,053 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Antero Resources by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,852,246 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock worth $139,054,000 after buying an additional 61,490 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Antero Resources by 10.4% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,378,849 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $125,452,000 after purchasing an additional 411,549 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Antero Resources in the fourth quarter valued at $140,020,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Antero Resources by 4.8% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,664,628 shares of the oil and natural gas company’s stock valued at $76,342,000 after purchasing an additional 122,815 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Antero Resources in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Antero Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on Antero Resources from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Antero Resources from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Antero Resources to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.47.

Antero Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AR opened at $37.63 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Antero Resources Co. has a 1-year low of $24.53 and a 1-year high of $41.53. The company has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.59 and a beta of 3.38.

Antero Resources (NYSE:AR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.14. Antero Resources had a return on equity of 0.74% and a net margin of 2.31%. Analysts forecast that Antero Resources Co. will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Antero Resources

In related news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.76, for a total value of $7,952,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,800,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,568,000. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

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.