Sciencast Management LP Raises Stock Holdings in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Sciencast Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 29.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,915 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,310 shares during the quarter. Sciencast Management LP’s holdings in APA were worth $982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in APA by 117.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 808 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its stake in APA by 228.6% in the fourth quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 723 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 503 shares in the last quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new stake in APA in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in APA by 2,535.1% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 975 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in APA by 35.9% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.48% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on APA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on APA from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 8th. VNET Group reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on APA from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered APA from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on APA from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.57.

APA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APA opened at $43.26 on Tuesday. APA Co. has a 1-year low of $30.67 and a 1-year high of $50.58. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.27. The company has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a PE ratio of 9.15, a PEG ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 3.53.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.19. APA had a return on equity of 117.05% and a net margin of 16.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 41.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that APA Co. will post 4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 20th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. APA’s payout ratio is presently 21.41%.

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.