YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) Short Interest Down 13.2% in March

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,480,000 shares, a drop of 13.2% from the February 28th total of 4,010,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on YPF shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $59.50 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, YPF Sociedad Anónima currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.02.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dorsey Wright & Associates raised its stake in shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 258,432 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,481,000 after buying an additional 28,617 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima by 1,119.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 250,550 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $5,314,000 after acquiring an additional 230,001 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in YPF Sociedad Anónima in the fourth quarter worth about $2,927,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in YPF Sociedad Anónima during the fourth quarter worth about $2,244,000. Finally, Fourth Sail Capital LP acquired a new stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,667,000. 10.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

YPF Sociedad Anónima Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE YPF opened at $35.47 on Wednesday. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a twelve month low of $16.18 and a twelve month high of $47.43. The stock has a market cap of $13.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.88.

YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 7th. The oil and gas exploration company reported ($0.74) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($1.25). YPF Sociedad Anónima had a net margin of 4.15% and a return on equity of 32.76%. The firm had revenue of $4.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.86 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that YPF Sociedad Anónima will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

YPF Sociedad Anónima Company Profile

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, and natural gas. The company’s downstream operations include petrochemical production and crude oil refining; transportation and distribution refined and petrochemical products; commercialization of crude oil, petrochemical products, and specialties.