VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases 56,100 Shares of APA Corporation $APA

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al increased its position in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 58.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 152,000 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 56,100 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in APA were worth $3,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in APA. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of APA by 38.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 284,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,199,000 after purchasing an additional 79,451 shares during the last quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of APA by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,316,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in APA by 98.7% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 51,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $950,000 after acquiring an additional 25,787 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of APA by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 914,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,729,000 after purchasing an additional 165,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in shares of APA during the first quarter valued at about $415,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on APA. Roth Capital raised their price objective on shares of APA from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Mizuho raised their target price on APA from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Capital One Financial upped their price target on APA from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of APA from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, APA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.73.

APA Trading Down 1.0%

APA stock opened at $24.46 on Friday. APA Corporation has a 12 month low of $13.58 and a 12 month high of $27.72. The company has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.59 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.06 billion. APA had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 15.49%.The company’s revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that APA Corporation will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. APA’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

About APA

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas resources. The company operates through three core regions: the United States, Egypt and the North Sea. Through its integrated approach, APA combines geological and geophysical expertise with technical innovation to identify and develop hydrocarbons in both onshore and offshore settings.

In the United States, APA’s largest position is in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it holds substantial acreage dedicated to oil-focused drilling and production.