Clough Capital Partners L P Acquires New Stake in APA Corporation $APA

Clough Capital Partners L P bought a new position in shares of APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 75,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,206,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of APA. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake 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 valued at $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in APA by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,171 shares of the company’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its position in APA by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 14,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of APA by 520.8% in the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of APA by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 130,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,201,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $36.15 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.43 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. APA Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.86 and a twelve month high of $45.66. The company’s 50 day moving average is $35.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.98.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.06 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 4.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.31%.

Insider Activity at APA

In other news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $392,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 66,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,675,072.40. The trade was a 12.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on APA. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of APA from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of APA from $44.00 to $41.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of APA from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of APA from $29.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on APA from $38.00 to $41.00 in a report on Friday, May 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, APA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.35.

APA 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.