Investors Buy High Volume of APA Call Options (NASDAQ:APA)

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Investors bought 31,556 call options on the company. This is an increase of 51% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,944 call options.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of APA. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in APA by 95.1% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,035 shares of the company's stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 2,454 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of APA by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 108,311 shares of the company's stock worth $2,504,000 after acquiring an additional 35,317 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of APA by 100.4% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 5,960 shares of the company's stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,986 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of APA by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 308,112 shares of the company's stock worth $6,806,000 after purchasing an additional 60,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in APA by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,119,648 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,853,000 after purchasing an additional 93,409 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on APA. Susquehanna lowered their price target on APA from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of APA from $26.00 to $14.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of APA from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of APA from $25.00 to $19.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $25.21.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock traded up $0.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.49. 2,916,484 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,955,437. APA has a 1 year low of $13.58 and a 1 year high of $33.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.17 billion. APA had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 27.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that APA will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.41%. APA's payout ratio is currently 35.97%.

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.

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