Bank of Montreal Can Grows Position in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 22.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 341,077 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,407 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in APA were worth $10,048,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in APA by 61.0% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 305,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,968,000 after acquiring an additional 115,876 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of APA by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 41,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in APA by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 514,871 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,473,000 after purchasing an additional 22,640 shares in the last quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in APA by 64,900.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 2,596 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in APA by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 37,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after buying an additional 9,362 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on APA shares. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of APA from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on APA from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Wolfe Research began coverage on APA in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on APA from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, APA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.38.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $24.53 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.11 billion, a PE ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 3.24. APA Co. has a 1 year low of $22.72 and a 1 year high of $43.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. APA had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 32.66%. APA’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that APA Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.19%.

About APA

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.