Ardevora Asset Management LLP Decreases Stock Position in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Ardevora Asset Management LLP decreased its stake in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 34.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 473,173 shares of the company’s stock after selling 247,466 shares during the quarter. Ardevora Asset Management LLP owned approximately 0.15% of APA worth $16,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its position in shares of APA by 228.6% during the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 723 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in APA by 117.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in APA during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of APA during the 1st quarter worth about $2,761,649,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of APA by 2,535.1% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.48% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Up 2.1 %

APA stock opened at $42.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.06. APA Co. has a twelve month low of $30.67 and a twelve month high of $50.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a PEG ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 3.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. APA had a return on equity of 117.05% and a net margin of 16.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 41.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that APA Co. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 20th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on APA from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 1st. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of APA from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 24th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of APA in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on APA from $35.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.43.

APA Profile

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.