175,077 Shares in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Bought by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 175,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,043,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APA. MML Investors Services LLC acquired a new position in APA in the third quarter valued at about $214,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of APA by 23.0% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 11,678 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 2,185 shares in the last quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in APA in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $757,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in APA by 154.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 62,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 37,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of APA by 144.3% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 30,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $756,000 after acquiring an additional 18,268 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on APA. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of APA from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on APA from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Susquehanna decreased their price target on APA from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on APA from $26.00 to $14.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of APA from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.21.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $15.50 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.61 billion, a PE ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.84. APA Co. has a 12 month low of $13.58 and a 12 month high of $33.41.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. APA had a return on equity of 27.86% and a net margin of 24.36%. Analysts expect that APA Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.45%. APA’s payout ratio is 44.25%.

About APA

APA Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has oil and gas operations in the United States, Egypt, and North Sea. The company also has exploration and appraisal activities in Suriname, as well as holds interests in projects located in Uruguay and internationally.