After watching Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:APC) for quite some time I finally pulled the trigger at $40 per share on Wednesday, February 21, 2007. More precisely, I put a GTC (good till canceled) order on it after my stock alert was triggered at $42 per share. That day, two weeks ago, I shared my views about APC when I wrote Anadarko Petroleum - hmmm, getting interesting. APC was on my watch list for a long time.

Anadarko closed Thursday at $40.76. You can check out the Fundamentals here.

On Wednesday when the Associated Press reported: "Among laggards, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s stock fell after a Prudential Equity Group analyst lowered his price target on the energy company. The Woodlands, Texas, company's stock shed $1.31, or 3.2 percent, to $40.02 on the Big Board." My opportunity came when an analyst commented - you all know I love analysts! The price dipped momentarily below $40 and scooped me and a lot of other happy investors up, then closed up for the day despite the comments, because oil prices were going up.

The five year chart below indicates that APC first peaked at about $40 two years ago and passed $56 about nine months ago. Its 52-week low is $39.51 and, although I do not support technical analyses, still I must admit being slightly influenced by what I thought would be a bottom. I was influenced equally by the thought of a few deals that got away because I was too measured in my view, seeking the very lowest price and missing out when something changed direction. Since I am looking for a long-term hold I did not want to miss the boat for a buck in this case.