APA Corporation $APA Shares Acquired by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 132.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 454,749 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 258,781 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $11,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of APA by 157.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,060,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,869,891 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in APA by 7,627.3% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,013,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,400 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in APA by 160.5% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 336,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,165,000 after buying an additional 892,438 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in APA by 43.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,668,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,092,000 after buying an additional 806,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in APA by 528.8% during the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 681,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,466,000 after buying an additional 573,193 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on APA shares. TD Cowen raised shares of APA to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on APA from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore cut their price objective on APA from $21.00 to $16.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on APA from $23.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.39.

APA Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $29.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. APA Corporation has a 1 year low of $13.58 and a 1 year high of $30.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.23. The firm has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.99, a PEG ratio of 13.28 and a beta of 0.74.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

About APA

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas resources. The company operates through three core regions: the United States, Egypt and the North Sea. Through its integrated approach, APA combines geological and geophysical expertise with technical innovation to identify and develop hydrocarbons in both onshore and offshore settings.

In the United States, APA’s largest position is in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it holds substantial acreage dedicated to oil-focused drilling and production.