swisspartners Advisors Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in APA Corporation $APA

swisspartners Advisors Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 448,460 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 78,950 shares during the period. APA makes up approximately 9.0% of swisspartners Advisors Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. swisspartners Advisors Ltd’s holdings in APA were worth $10,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in APA. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of APA by 0.5% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 94,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,303,000 after buying an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. one8zero8 LLC boosted its stake in shares of APA by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. one8zero8 LLC now owns 42,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,026,000 after acquiring an additional 488 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of APA by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 106,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,592,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of APA by 19.6% during the second quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 0.6% during the second quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 104,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,918,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

APA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays set a $24.00 price target on APA in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Capital One Financial reduced their target price on APA from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group lifted their price target on APA from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on APA from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut APA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.35.

APA Price Performance

NASDAQ APA opened at $27.38 on Thursday. APA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $13.58 and a fifty-two week high of $27.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $25.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.49. The firm has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

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

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

APA 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.