Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Takes Position in APA Corporation $APA

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 816,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,968,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in APA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of APA by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 2,070 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of APA by 49.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of APA by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,668,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,092,000 after purchasing an additional 806,252 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in shares of APA by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 44,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 4,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of APA during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $5,199,000. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

APA Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:APA opened at $36.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. APA Corporation has a 52 week low of $16.88 and a 52 week high of $45.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.08 and its 200-day moving average is $31.12. The firm has a market cap of $12.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.38.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The company had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. APA’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other APA news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $392,392.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 66,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,675,072.40. This represents a 12.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $240,349.82. The trade was a 77.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on APA. Wall Street Zen raised shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of APA from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of APA from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of APA from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of APA from $27.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.96.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas resources. The company operates through three core regions: the United States, Egypt and the North Sea. Through its integrated approach, APA combines geological and geophysical expertise with technical innovation to identify and develop hydrocarbons in both onshore and offshore settings.

In the United States, APA’s largest position is in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it holds substantial acreage dedicated to oil-focused drilling and production.