APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Short Interest Update

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA – Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 11,550,000 shares, a growth of 9.4% from the February 13th total of 10,560,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APA. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in APA by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after buying an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of APA by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 154,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,191,000 after purchasing an additional 5,483 shares in the last quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of APA during the fourth quarter worth $869,000. Goehring & Rozencwajg Associates LLC purchased a new position in APA in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,738,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its stake in APA by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 113,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143 shares in the last quarter. 80.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

APA Stock Down 8.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $32.05 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.05. APA has a 52 week low of $30.15 and a 52 week high of $51.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 3.52.

APA (NASDAQ:APA – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.04. APA had a net margin of 34.14% and a return on equity of 198.44%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that APA will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 20th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet raised shares of APA from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of APA in a report on Wednesday, February 8th. Raymond James decreased their price objective on shares of APA from $68.00 to $61.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of APA from $63.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of APA from $55.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, APA has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.29.

About APA

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APA Corp. explores for oil and natural gas through its subsidiaries. It produces oil and gas with operations in the United States, Egypt and the United Kingdom, and exploration activities offshore in Suriname. The company was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.