Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. Takes Position in APA Corporation $APA

Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 21,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $533,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of APA by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 936,605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,909,000 after buying an additional 82,790 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank increased its position in shares of APA by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 14,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 3,019 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of APA by 21.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,010,000 after buying an additional 1,864,900 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of APA by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 839,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,745,000 after buying an additional 158,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of APA by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 90,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,210,000 after buying an additional 13,227 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on APA from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on APA from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on APA from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on APA from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Evercore lifted their price objective on APA from $25.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of APA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $392,392.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 66,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,675,072.40. The trade was a 12.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of APA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $833,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at $240,349.82. This represents a 77.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Down 6.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:APA opened at $34.77 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. APA Corporation has a 12-month low of $17.74 and a 12-month high of $45.66. The firm has a market cap of $12.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 0.34.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. APA had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 17.38%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 5.59 EPS for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is currently 23.31%.

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.