Mark Maddox Sells 9,800 Shares of APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) VP Mark Maddox sold 9,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $392,392.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 66,810 shares in the company, valued at $2,675,072.40. This trade represents a 12.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $38.80 on Friday. APA Corporation has a one year low of $16.25 and a one year high of $45.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.87 and its 200 day moving average is $30.62. The company has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. APA had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 5.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APA. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in APA by 1,726.2% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,176,000 after acquiring an additional 4,569,779 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in APA by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117,032 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in APA by 157.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,060,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,869,891 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in APA by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,900 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in APA by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,030,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of APA from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of APA from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of APA from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of APA from $27.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of APA from $21.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.12.

Key APA News

Here are the key news stories impacting APA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised multiple earnings forecasts for APA, including FY2026, FY2027, and several quarterly estimates, suggesting improved profitability expectations.
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley increased its price target on APA to $44 from $43, indicating slightly better valuation expectations despite the cautious rating. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: APA declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, which may appeal to income-focused investors and support the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: APA management discussed the company in a shareholder/analyst call transcript, but no major new catalyst was highlighted in the provided excerpt. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares, a insider sale that can be viewed cautiously by investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: An energy-sector article about Shell divesting Uruguay offshore interests is more relevant to the broader industry than to APA specifically. Article Title

APA Company Profile

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.