Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires New Shares in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 42,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of APA. Harris Associates L P boosted its stake 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 valued at $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% during 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 in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of APA by 10.6% during the fourth 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. Smead Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of APA by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,235,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,866,000 after purchasing an additional 626,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of APA by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,841,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,093,000 after purchasing an additional 345,192 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on APA. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on APA from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on APA from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on APA from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of APA in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.86.

APA Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APA traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.21. 3,493,116 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,692,342. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 3.26. APA Co. has a 1-year low of $27.17 and a 1-year high of $46.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.03.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. APA had a return on equity of 45.32% and a net margin of 34.04%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that APA Co. will post 4.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.