APA (NASDAQ:APA) Director Sells $833,290.00 in Stock

Key Points

• APA director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares at an average price of $36.23 for total proceeds of $833,290, leaving him with 6,634 shares — a 77.61% reduction in his position, disclosed in an SEC filing.
• APA beat estimates with quarterly EPS of $0.91 versus the $0.62 consensus and reported revenue of $1.99 billion (vs. $1.89B expected), though revenue was down 26.6% year‑over‑year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share (annualized $1.00, yield ~2.6%, ex‑dividend Apr 22), and the stock traded up to $39.11 on heavy volume (~23.9M vs. avg ~7.66M), near its 12‑month high of $39.52.

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at $240,349.82. This trade represents a 77.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

APA Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of APA stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.11. The stock had a trading volume of 23,875,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,662,448. APA Corporation has a 12 month low of $13.58 and a 12 month high of $39.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $28.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.72. The stock has a market cap of $13.82 billion, a PE ratio of 9.80, a PEG ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 0.67.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. APA had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 22nd. APA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in APA by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,321,936 shares of the company's stock worth $374,786,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,706 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in APA by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $359,807,000 after purchasing an additional 285,542 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of APA by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $255,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864,900 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of APA by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company's stock valued at $175,426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of APA by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company's stock worth $108,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,326 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on APA. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on APA from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of APA from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of APA to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of APA from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $21.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.52.

APA Company 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.

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