APA doubles its dividend

Article Excerpt

APA CORP. $35 is a hold. The company (New York symbol APA; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 338.2 million; Market cap: $11.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.apacorp.com) produces oil and natural gas in the U.S., Egypt and the U.K. Thanks to the rise in crude oil prices over the past few months, APA is now doubling your quarterly dividend. Starting with the November 2022 payment, investors will receive $0.25 a share instead of $0.125. The new annual rate of $1.00 yields 2.9.%. As well, the company has added 40 million shares to its current repurchase authorization. If you add that to the 27.7 million shares remaining under the previous plan (as of July 31, 2022), it can now buy back up to 67.7 million of its shares, or roughly 21% of the total outstanding. There are no time limits for those purchases. APA is also using its improving cash flow to pay down its long-term debt, from $7.30…