Gotham Asset Management LLC Buys 145,348 Shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 114.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,807 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 145,348 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC owned about 0.09% of APA worth $9,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in APA by 5.9% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in APA during the first quarter valued at approximately $513,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in APA by 86.4% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 16,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 7,664 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of APA by 116.1% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 87,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 46,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC increased its stake in shares of APA by 7,035.5% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 4,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 4,362 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.48% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ APA traded down $0.72 during trading on Monday, reaching $43.54. 784,931 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,377,827. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.68 and a beta of 3.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.80. APA Co. has a 12-month low of $30.67 and a 12-month high of $50.58.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $1.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. APA had a net margin of 16.14% and a return on equity of 117.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 41.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that APA Co. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of APA from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of APA from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 18th. Benchmark started coverage on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of APA from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 28th. Finally, 58.com reaffirmed a “maintains” rating on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, APA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.43.

About APA

APA Corporation, through its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. 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, compression, processing, and transmission assets in West Texas, as well as holds ownership in four Permian Basin long-haul pipeline.