Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 53.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,231 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,304 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in APA were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of APA. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of APA by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 15,705,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367,570 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of APA by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,648,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,535,001,000 after acquiring an additional 2,004,555 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in APA by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,299,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,335 shares during the last quarter. Webs Creek Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of APA during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,593,000. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of APA by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,235,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,866,000 after purchasing an additional 626,460 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on APA from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup cut their price objective on APA from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of APA from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $41.00 target price on shares of APA in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of APA from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the company from $52.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.64.

APA Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:APA traded down $0.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.38. 1,046,820 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,322,503. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 3.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.89. APA Co. has a 52 week low of $26.81 and a 52 week high of $46.15.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.22. APA had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 32.66%. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. APA’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that APA Co. will post 4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.19%.

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.