Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 655,408 Shares of APi Group Corporation $APG

Key Points

• Artisan Partners trimmed its APi Group stake by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 655,408 shares and leaving it with 6.64 million shares worth about $254 million.
• APi Group’s fundamentals were solid in its latest quarter, with EPS of $0.32 topping estimates and revenue rising 15.3% year over year to $1.98 billion.
• Insider selling has been notable, including Director Martin E. Franklin’s sale of 2 million shares for $84.2 million; despite this, analysts still rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $52.14.

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership decreased its position in APi Group Corporation (NYSE:APG - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,637,578 shares of the company's stock after selling 655,408 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 1.60% of APi Group worth $253,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in APG. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of APi Group during the first quarter valued at $650,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of APi Group by 73.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 178,117 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,369,000 after acquiring an additional 75,490 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of APi Group by 547.2% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,275 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of APi Group by 166.5% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 173,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 108,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cresset Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of APi Group by 5.7% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 11,305 shares of the company's stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.62% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

APG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $55.00 price objective on APi Group and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $54.00 price objective (up from $52.00) on shares of APi Group in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings cut APi Group from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $53.00 price objective (up from $52.00) on shares of APi Group in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised APi Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, APi Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $52.14.

APi Group Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:APG opened at $42.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -59.83, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 1.44. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $43.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.35. APi Group Corporation has a 52-week low of $31.95 and a 52-week high of $49.99.

APi Group (NYSE:APG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.02. APi Group had a return on equity of 37.63% and a net margin of 3.85%.The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that APi Group Corporation will post 1.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other APi Group news, Director Martin E. Franklin sold 2,000,000 shares of APi Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total transaction of $84,160,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,240,426 shares of the company's stock, valued at $809,637,126.08. The trade was a 9.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James E. Lillie sold 59,461 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.50, for a total transaction of $2,705,475.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,237,350 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $420,299,425. The trade was a 0.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,444,000 shares of company stock worth $271,537,645. Company insiders own 18.70% of the company's stock.

APi Group Company Profile

APi Group Corp. is a global specialty contractor that provides fire protection, security, mechanical insulation and energy services to commercial, industrial and institutional clients. Headquartered in New Brighton, Minnesota, the company designs, installs, inspects, tests, maintains and repairs a wide range of safety and infrastructure systems. Through its network of operating subsidiaries, APi Group delivers end-to-end solutions for new construction, facility renovations and ongoing maintenance requirements.

Its service portfolio spans life safety and industrial services—such as fire suppression systems, fire alarms and emergency lighting—and specialized offerings including technical insulation, access solutions, passive fire protection and energy efficiency upgrades.

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