Swiss National Bank Has $34.50 Million Stock Holdings in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 961,600 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned 0.31% of APA worth $34,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in APA by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 7,461 shares during the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of APA by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,237,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,412,000 after purchasing an additional 38,505 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of APA in the 4th quarter valued at $95,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in APA by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 726,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,053,000 after buying an additional 90,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in APA by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,531,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,037,000 after buying an additional 24,182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on APA. Piper Sandler increased their price target on APA from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of APA in a report on Monday, April 15th. Raymond James dropped their price target on APA from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of APA from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of APA from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

APA Stock Up 1.1 %

APA stock opened at $30.26 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $32.53 and its 200-day moving average is $33.91. APA Co. has a twelve month low of $28.90 and a twelve month high of $46.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.11 billion, a PE ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 3.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.12). APA had a net margin of 34.04% and a return on equity of 45.32%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. APA’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that APA Co. will post 5.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. APA’s payout ratio is 11.19%.

APA 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.