Ex-Dividend Stocks: Apache, Hormel

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The following stocks go ex-dividend Thursday, meaning an investor must purchase the shares Wednesday to qualify for the next dividend payment: Apache(APA) , C. R. Bard(BCR) and Hormel Foods(HRL) .

Apache

The energy company is slated to report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 2. Analysts, on average, anticipate earnings of $2.71 a share on revenue of $4.36 billion.

"The Street is concerned about APA's geopolitical risk exposure by having 22% of 2011 net output in Egypt and 6% in Argentina," Societe Generale analysts wrote in a June 21 report. "APA has not experienced operational snafus (output or payment) during the Arab Spring or the election process. And we believe that the nationalization of Repsol's YPF position in Argentina was a 'one off' and not a harbinger for APA or other companies. Nevertheless, in a headlines driven, global macro trading world, oil & gas investors have been shunning many forms of risk, which has created a very good buying opportunity."

Forward Annual Dividend Yield: 0.8%