Empirical Finance LLC Has $221,000 Position in APA Corporation $APA

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its holdings in APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) by 62.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,076 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,224 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of APA by 33.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,316,000 after purchasing an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of APA by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 51,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,000 after buying an additional 25,787 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in APA in the 1st quarter valued at $415,000. CWM LLC raised its stake in APA by 195.7% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 38,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $701,000 after acquiring an additional 25,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 1,576.6% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 18,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 17,847 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $23.38 on Friday. APA Corporation has a 1-year low of $13.58 and a 1-year high of $25.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.87. The company has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 7.82, a P/E/G ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.12.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.19. APA had a net margin of 10.53% and a return on equity of 20.98%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. APA’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio is 24.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of APA in a report on Monday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of APA from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of APA from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $21.00 target price on shares of APA in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on APA from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.21.

APA Company Profile

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.