APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Short Interest Down 15.5% in October

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) saw a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,030,000 shares, a drop of 15.5% from the October 15th total of 18,970,000 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 6,050,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of APA by 4.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,648,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,535,001,000 after buying an additional 2,004,555 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in APA by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 30,471,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,411,270 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P lifted its stake in APA by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 24,914,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $609,414,000 after purchasing an additional 4,293,932 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in APA by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,991,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $293,312,000 after purchasing an additional 485,291 shares during the period. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of APA by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,667,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,466,000 after purchasing an additional 326,042 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

APA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on APA from $39.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Bernstein Bank lowered their target price on shares of APA from $30.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of APA from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of APA from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on APA from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.95.

APA Stock Down 1.0 %

APA opened at $22.38 on Monday. APA has a 12 month low of $21.15 and a 12 month high of $37.82. The company has a market cap of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 3.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.51 and a 200 day moving average of $27.65.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.12%.

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.