Prudential PLC Buys 120,717 Shares of APA Corporation $APA

Prudential PLC lifted its stake in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 753.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 136,744 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 120,717 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in APA were worth $3,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in APA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 6.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 2,070 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in APA by 49.6% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 3,578 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in APA by 43.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,668,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,092,000 after buying an additional 806,252 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in APA by 10.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 44,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 4,297 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in APA during the second quarter valued at $5,199,000. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on APA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on APA from $29.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on APA from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on APA from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on APA from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on APA from $27.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, APA has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.96.

APA Trading Down 4.3%

NASDAQ APA opened at $36.57 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.58. APA Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.74 and a twelve month 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. The company has a market capitalization of $12.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.52 and a beta of 0.33.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 17.38%.The business had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 5.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Insider Transactions at APA

In other news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of APA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $833,290.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $240,349.82. The trade was a 77.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 66,810 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,675,072.40. This represents a 12.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

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.