Allianz SE Purchases New Position in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of APA by 12.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 30,471,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,411,270 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in APA by 20.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 24,914,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $609,414,000 after buying an additional 4,293,932 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in APA by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,886,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $297,540,000 after buying an additional 894,574 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,307,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,928,000 after buying an additional 224,547 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of APA by 17.2% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,102,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,351,000 after acquiring an additional 600,612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of APA from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho cut their price target on APA from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Raymond James cut APA from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $45.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of APA from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, APA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.25.

APA Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APA opened at $21.02 on Tuesday. APA Co. has a 52-week low of $17.66 and a 52-week high of $36.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.24. The company has a market capitalization of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 3.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.89.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. APA had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 27.86%. Sell-side analysts forecast that APA Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.25%.

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.