Versor Investments LP Purchases Shares of 18,100 APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 18,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of APA by 131.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,813,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,704,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736,041 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of APA by 4.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,648,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,535,001,000 after buying an additional 2,004,555 shares in the last quarter. Webs Creek Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in APA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,593,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in APA by 112.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,448,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,092,000 after acquiring an additional 767,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in APA by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,358,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,865,000 after acquiring an additional 455,312 shares during the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

APA Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of APA stock opened at $22.60 on Friday. APA Co. has a 12-month low of $21.15 and a 12-month high of $38.27. The company has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a PE ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 3.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on APA. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of APA from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of APA in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on APA from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on APA from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on APA from $39.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.95.

APA Company 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.