Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $791,000 Stock Holdings in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,015 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,526 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in APA were worth $791,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. American National Bank increased its stake in shares of APA by 208.5% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 725 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in APA in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in APA by 64.0% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 961 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in APA in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in APA by 75.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on APA. Evercore ISI cut shares of APA from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, June 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of APA from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of APA from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of APA from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, APA has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.86.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock traded down $0.79 on Monday, reaching $30.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,240,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,271,969. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 3.27. APA Co. has a 12 month low of $27.17 and a 12 month high of $46.15.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly 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). APA had a net margin of 34.04% and a return on equity of 45.32%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that APA Co. will post 4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd will be given 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 3.29%. APA’s payout ratio is presently 11.19%.

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.