APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.52.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of APA from $59.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays cut their price target on APA from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on shares of APA from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of APA from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $52.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Friday, June 14th.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $28.64 on Friday. APA has a 52 week low of $27.17 and a 52 week high of $46.15. The firm has a market cap of $10.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 3.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.16. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.84.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.12). APA had a return on equity of 45.32% and a net margin of 34.04%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that APA will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. APA’s payout ratio is 11.19%.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of APA by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 33,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,193,000 after acquiring an additional 7,461 shares in the last quarter. Summa Corp. acquired a new position in shares of APA during the 4th quarter worth about $7,571,000. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of APA by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,237,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,412,000 after acquiring an additional 38,505 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp boosted its position in APA by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Wealthquest Corp now owns 154,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,533,000 after purchasing an additional 27,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of APA by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,841,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,093,000 after purchasing an additional 345,192 shares during the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About APA

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.