Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. Invests $557,000 in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Nippon Life Global Investors Americas Inc. purchased a new position in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gabelli Funds LLC increased its stake in APA by 13.9% in the third quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 168,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,620,000 after purchasing an additional 20,600 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in APA in the fourth quarter valued at $3,168,000. Pinnacle Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in APA in the fourth quarter valued at $258,000. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in APA by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 58,909 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after purchasing an additional 17,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundation Resource Management Inc. increased its stake in APA by 114.9% in the fourth quarter. Foundation Resource Management Inc. now owns 239,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,451,000 after purchasing an additional 128,262 shares during the last quarter. 84.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NASDAQ APA traded up $0.84 on Friday, hitting $41.66. 8,298,525 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 10,044,643. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.10 and a 200 day moving average of $34.23. APA Co. has a twelve month low of $15.55 and a twelve month high of $45.27. The company has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 4.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.77.

APA (NASDAQ:APA – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 4th. The company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.76 by $0.16. APA had a return on equity of 11,632.79% and a net margin of 30.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. APA’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that APA Co. will post 10.17 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 21st. APA’s payout ratio is currently 7.14%.

Several equities research analysts have commented on APA shares. Truist Financial upped their price target on APA from $55.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on APA from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 6th. Raymond James upped their price target on APA from $59.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on APA from $41.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on APA from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, APA currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.87.

In related news, insider P Anthony Lannie sold 86,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.26, for a total value of $3,579,305.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 58,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,427,903.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen J. Riney bought 6,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $31.47 per share, for a total transaction of $198,261.00. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

APA Company Profile (Get Rating)

APA Corporation, through its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, and produces oil and gas properties. It has operations in the United States, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, as well as has exploration activities offshore Suriname. The company also operates gathering, processing, and transmission assets in West Texas, as well as holds ownership in four Permian-to-Gulf Coast pipelines.

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