19,550 Shares in APA Corporation $APA Bought by Legacy Capital Group California Inc.

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. bought a new stake in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 19,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in APA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in APA by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,321,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $374,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,706 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of APA by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,807,000 after buying an additional 285,542 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,864,900 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,426,000 after buying an additional 3,117,032 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,349,000 after buying an additional 1,018,326 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on APA shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of APA from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of APA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of APA from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $25.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of APA from $43.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Up 3.7%

APA opened at $34.67 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 0.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.30. APA Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.86 and a 52 week high of $45.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The business had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that APA Corporation will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

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.