Kestra Advisory Services LLC Sells 3,162 Shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Kestra Advisory Services LLC lowered its position in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA – Get Rating) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,522 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,162 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $1,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of APA. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of APA by 50.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 998 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of APA by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. James Investment Research Inc. raised its holdings in APA by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter. James Investment Research Inc. now owns 1,126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC boosted its position in shares of APA by 1.4% during the second quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC now owns 29,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,020,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. 80.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on APA. Mizuho lowered shares of APA from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $48.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley cut APA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on APA from $38.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 19th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on APA in a research report on Wednesday, October 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of APA from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, APA currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.88.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA opened at $44.06 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 3.58. APA Co. has a 52-week low of $29.61 and a 52-week high of $51.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.28.

APA (NASDAQ:APA – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 2nd. The company reported $1.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.05. APA had a net margin of 33.83% and a return on equity of 325.67%. The firm had revenue of $2.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 40.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that APA Co. will post 7.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 20th. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.55%.

About APA

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APA Corporation, through its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, and produces oil and gas properties. It has operations in the United States, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, as well as has exploration activities offshore Suriname. The company also operates gathering, processing, and transmission assets in West Texas, as well as holds ownership in four Permian-to-Gulf Coast pipelines.