Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Acquires Shares of 6,112 APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Roth Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in APA by 36.8% during the 1st quarter. Roth Financial Partners LLC now owns 23,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $823,000 after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares in the last quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of APA by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 110,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,813,000 after purchasing an additional 4,215 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group raised its stake in shares of APA by 97.5% during the 1st quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 16,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 8,190 shares during the period. Foundation Resource Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of APA by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Foundation Resource Management Inc. now owns 147,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,080,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank raised its stake in shares of APA by 208.5% during the 1st quarter. American National Bank now owns 725 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

APA Price Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $28.64 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market cap of $10.63 billion, a PE ratio of 3.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 3.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.01 and a 200 day moving average of $31.84. APA Co. has a 52 week low of $27.17 and a 52 week high of $46.15.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. APA had a net margin of 34.04% and a return on equity of 45.32%. APA’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that APA Co. will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. APA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

APA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of APA in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on APA from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on APA from $35.00 to $31.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Friday, June 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.52.

APA Company 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.