Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC Decreases Stock Position in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC reduced its position in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 77,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 9,407 shares during the quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $1,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in APA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in APA by 33.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,186,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,823,000 after buying an additional 1,540,055 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of APA by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,092,666 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,500,000 after acquiring an additional 929,770 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 894,574 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in APA by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,230,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,498,000 after purchasing an additional 850,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in APA during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $14,524,000. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on APA shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on APA from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of APA from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on APA from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Raymond James downgraded APA from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on APA from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.79.

APA Price Performance

NASDAQ APA opened at $16.35 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.58. APA Co. has a 52 week low of $13.58 and a 52 week high of $33.41. The stock has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

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

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.