Juliet Ellis, a director at APA Corp (APA) bought 4,545 shares last month. The buy increased her stake by 130 percent, and came to a total purchase price of $100,000.
A company insider also sold shares around the same time, but throughout 2019 and 2020, all insider transactions at the company were bullish. Overall, company insiders own 0.3 percent of company shares.
The oil and gas exploration company is up 115 percent over the past year, although shares have had a sizeable pullback in recent weeks.
While the company is coming off some unprofitable quarters, APA Corp now trades at 8 times forward earnings and stands to see an improvement in its earnings and profit margins coming off some poor quarters for energy prices.
The recent drop in shares leaves them at their worst technical reading in two months. Furthermore, the company’s shares have been trying to hold a share price near current levels of $17, making for a potential oversold trade.
Action to take: Investors may like shares here, although the company dividend is a scant 0.5 percent. For playing a potential move to the upside, a call option is better.
The July $20 calls, last trading for about $1.00, have the potential to see a high-double or even low-triple digit gain on a rally higher in shares, and look like an inexpensive way to play a rally higher from here.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no positions in the stock mentioned here, and no intention to make a trade on this company in the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.