William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires New Holdings in YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF)

William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:YPF) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,074,249 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,664,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.27% of YPF Sociedad Anónima at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of YPF. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in YPF Sociedad Anónima by 130.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,211 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,251 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in YPF Sociedad Anónima by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,427 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Verde Servicos Internacionais S.A. purchased a new stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima in the 4th quarter valued at about $128,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in YPF Sociedad Anónima in the 3rd quarter valued at about $144,000. 10.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

YPF Sociedad Anónima Stock Performance

Shares of YPF opened at $36.16 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.89. YPF Sociedad Anónima has a 52-week low of $16.18 and a 52-week high of $47.43.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup lowered shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $59.50 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of YPF Sociedad Anónima from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.16.

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.