SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 134,800 Shares of APA Corporation $APA

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its stake in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 36.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 232,566 shares of the company’s stock after selling 134,800 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.07% of APA worth $9,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in APA by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of APA by 157.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,060,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,869,891 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of APA by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,900 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of APA by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,030,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,674,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of APA by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,326 shares during the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on APA. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of APA from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on APA from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on APA from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on APA from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Benchmark boosted their target price on APA from $33.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 66,810 shares in the company, 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 through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of APA opened at $33.01 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. APA Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.86 and a 52 week high of $45.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.62.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 5.6 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

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.