YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) Stock: Insider Guillermo Alberto Francos Purchases 6,930 Shares

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) Director Guillermo Alberto Francos purchased 6,930 shares of the stock in a transaction on Sunday, July 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $51.42 per share, for a total transaction of $356,340.60. Following the acquisition, the director owned 34,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,780,674.60. This represents a 25.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Guillermo Alberto Francos also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, September 14th, Guillermo Alberto Francos sold 2,770 shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.76, for a total value of $154,455.20.

YPF Sociedad Anónima Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YPF traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.54. 278,809 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,720,010. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $51.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.46. The company has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 1.35. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a 12-month low of $32.74 and a 12-month high of $57.87.

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $1.08. YPF Sociedad Anónima had a net margin of 9.42% and a return on equity of 17.23%. The business had revenue of $6.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.57 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that YPF Sociedad Anónima will post 9.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on YPF shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. HSBC raised YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research upgraded YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on YPF Sociedad Anónima from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On YPF Sociedad Anónima

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YPF. Oaktree Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima during the 1st quarter valued at $40,972,000. Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 65.3% in the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 413,000 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $20,779,000 after acquiring an additional 163,200 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda increased its position in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 0.5% in the third quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda now owns 258,830 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $12,975,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares during the period. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC bought a new position in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima during the second quarter valued at about $12,216,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 107.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 231,121 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $11,586,000 after acquiring an additional 119,833 shares during the last quarter. 10.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About YPF Sociedad Anónima

YPF Sociedad Anónima is an integrated energy company based in Argentina and one of the country’s principal oil and gas producers. The company explores for, develops and produces crude oil and natural gas, with operations that include both conventional and unconventional resources. YPF is also a major participant in the development of the Vaca Muerta shale formation in the Neuquén Basin.

Through its downstream operations, YPF refines crude oil and markets fuels, lubricants and other petroleum products.