Citigroup Lowers YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) to Neutral

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) was downgraded by Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $24.00 price target on the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $20.00. Citigroup’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 22.70% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $10.50 to $22.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.10.

YPF Sociedad Anónima Stock Down 3.4 %

YPF traded down $0.69 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,428,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,355,338. The company has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a PE ratio of -5.90 and a beta of 1.90. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a one year low of $9.57 and a one year high of $22.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $18.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 6th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.95 by ($0.95). YPF Sociedad Anónima had a negative net margin of 7.58% and a positive return on equity of 17.33%. The company had revenue of $4.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that YPF Sociedad Anónima will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in YPF Sociedad Anónima in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 8,333.3% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 5,060 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 110.1% during the first quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,463 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 4,959 shares during the period. Ascension Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the third quarter worth approximately $135,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the first quarter worth approximately $124,000. 10.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About YPF Sociedad Anónima

YPF Sociedad Anónima, an energy company, engages in the oil and gas upstream and downstream activities in Argentina. Its upstream operations include the exploration, exploitation, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs. The company's downstream operations include the refining, marketing, and distribution of oil and petroleum products, as well as petroleum derivatives, such as petrochemicals, hydrocarbons, non-fossil fuels, biofuels, and related components; and production of hydrocarbons electric power.