Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM) Shares Up 3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Antero Midstream Corporation (NYSE:AM) were up 3% on Wednesday after Capital One Financial upgraded the stock from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating. Capital One Financial now has a $25.00 price target on the stock. Antero Midstream traded as high as $21.70 and last traded at $21.7550. 197,913 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 2,597,974 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.12.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on AM. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $24.00 target price on Antero Midstream in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Antero Midstream from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Antero Midstream from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Antero Midstream from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Sheri Pearce sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.01, for a total transaction of $352,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 83,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,846,639. This represents a 16.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Brooks J. Klimley sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.27, for a total value of $106,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 68,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,699.08. The trade was a 6.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Antero Midstream

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Continuum Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Antero Midstream in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Clearstead Trust LLC acquired a new position in shares of Antero Midstream during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Antero Midstream by 68.1% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the pipeline company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Antero Midstream in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Antero Midstream by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,014 shares of the pipeline company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 537 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.97% of the company’s stock.

Antero Midstream Stock Up 3.0%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.10. The firm has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84.

Antero Midstream (NYSE:AM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The pipeline company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.27. The firm had revenue of $327.24 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $326.43 million. Antero Midstream had a net margin of 32.41% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Antero Midstream Corporation will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Antero Midstream Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 29th were paid a dividend of $0.225 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 29th. This represents a $0.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Antero Midstream’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 107.14%.

Antero Midstream Company Profile

Antero Midstream Corp. (NYSE: AM) owns, operates and develops midstream energy infrastructure that supports natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil production. The company provides gathering, compression, processing and water-handling services, primarily for Antero Resources and other producers.

Antero Midstream’s gathering and compression assets collect production from wells and transport it to processing and downstream markets. Its water business provides fresh-water delivery and wastewater handling services, including the gathering, recycling and disposal of water used in hydraulic fracturing and other production activities.

The company’s operations are concentrated in the Appalachian Basin, particularly in the Marcellus and Utica shale areas of West Virginia and Ohio.