APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its holdings in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 86.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,968 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,096 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $45,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of APA. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in APA by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 77,110 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,780,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in APA by 84.1% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in APA by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 138,991 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,070,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in APA by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 571 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in APA by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on APA shares. Raymond James downgraded APA from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Mizuho dropped their target price on APA from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on APA from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded APA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $25.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on APA from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.60.

APA Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ:APA opened at $20.57 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $22.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.14. APA Co. has a 52 week low of $17.66 and a 52 week high of $36.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 3.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.31 billion. APA had a return on equity of 27.86% and a net margin of 24.36%. On average, research analysts forecast that APA Co. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.86%. APA’s payout ratio is currently 44.25%.

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.