Ellis Investment Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in APA Corporation $APA

Ellis Investment Partners LLC lessened its holdings in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,296 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,365 shares during the quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $1,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of APA. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in APA by 3.1% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 54,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after buying an additional 1,628 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in APA by 61.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 4,878 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in APA in the first quarter valued at $2,337,000. CX Institutional acquired a new position in APA in the first quarter valued at $170,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in APA by 14.5% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 26,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 3,306 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Price Performance

Shares of APA opened at $21.94 on Monday. APA Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $13.58 and a fifty-two week high of $27.22. The company has a market capitalization of $7.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.31 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.42. APA had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that APA Corporation will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on APA. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of APA from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of APA from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Cfra Research upgraded shares of APA to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of APA from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up previously from $26.00) on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.76.

APA Profile

APA Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has oil and gas operations in the United States, Egypt, and North Sea. The company also has exploration and appraisal activities in Suriname, as well as holds interests in projects located in Uruguay and internationally.