William Blair Investment Management LLC Buys 59,439 Shares of Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR)

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Antero Resources Co. (NYSE:AR - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,434,147 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock after purchasing an additional 59,439 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.46% of Antero Resources worth $50,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. KBC Group NV grew its position in Antero Resources by 12.4% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,086 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Antero Resources by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,516,963 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $43,461,000 after purchasing an additional 88,099 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Antero Resources by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 576,400 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock worth $16,514,000 after purchasing an additional 9,300 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Antero Resources by 85.1% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 167,882 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $4,810,000 after purchasing an additional 77,193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Payden & Rygel boosted its position in Antero Resources by 1,172.6% in the third quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 49,760 shares of the oil and natural gas company's stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 45,850 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.04% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Antero Resources from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Antero Resources from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Antero Resources to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.06.

Antero Resources Price Performance

AR stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.70. 6,366,191 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,909,842. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.89. Antero Resources Co. has a 52-week low of $24.53 and a 52-week high of $41.53. The company has a market capitalization of $12.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 127.18 and a beta of 3.38. 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 (NYSE:AR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The oil and natural gas company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Antero Resources Co. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Antero Resources news, Director W Howard Keenan, Jr. sold 200,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 1,800,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $71,568,000. This represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Antero Resources Profile

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.