Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $768,000 in APA Corporation $APA

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 18,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of APA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 106,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of APA by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,000 after buying an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its holdings in shares of APA by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 14,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in APA by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 130,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,201,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. grew its position in APA by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. now owns 30,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on APA shares. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of APA from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of APA from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Zacks Research downgraded APA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on APA from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.88.

APA Stock Performance

APA stock traded up $0.37 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.83. 244,206 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,275,855. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.67 and a beta of 0.35. APA Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.86 and a 52 week high of $45.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The business had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that APA Corporation will post 5.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is presently 23.31%.

Insider Activity at APA

In other news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $392,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 66,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,675,072.40. This represents a 12.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

APA Company Profile

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.