Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Makes New $441,000 Investment in APA Corporation $APA

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in APA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,173,231,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of APA by 1,726.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,176,000 after acquiring an additional 4,569,779 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of APA in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $134,558,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of APA by 240.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,662,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,880,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of APA by 55.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,154,301 shares of the company’s stock valued at $176,309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,626 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of APA from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of APA from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of APA from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of APA in a research note on Friday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, APA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.76.

APA Trading Up 0.8%

APA stock opened at $51.51 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.42. APA Corporation has a 52-week low of $21.63 and a 52-week high of $52.39.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). APA had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 24.84%. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 6.46 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is 21.14%.

APA declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 16th that allows the company to buy back 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s activities include identifying hydrocarbon resources, drilling and completing wells, operating producing properties, and managing related infrastructure.

APA’s principal producing areas include the Permian Basin in the United States and Egypt’s Western Desert, where it operates through joint ventures with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.