Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Position in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 62,379 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,670 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in APA were worth $1,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in APA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in APA by 131.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,813,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,704,000 after acquiring an additional 2,736,041 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of APA by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 15,705,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367,570 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of APA by 4.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,648,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,535,001,000 after purchasing an additional 2,004,555 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in APA by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,299,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Webs Creek Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in APA during the 1st quarter worth $28,593,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of APA from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on APA from $36.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on APA from $39.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of APA from $35.00 to $28.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, APA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.52.

APA Stock Down 0.3 %

APA stock opened at $24.46 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 3.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.79. APA Co. has a one year low of $22.72 and a one year high of $43.58. 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 results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. APA had a net margin of 32.66% and a return on equity of 35.95%. APA’s revenue was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that APA Co. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is currently 11.19%.

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.