APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation, six have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.19.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of APA from $35.00 to $28.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of APA from $39.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of APA from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on shares of APA from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of APA from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunpointe LLC grew its stake in shares of APA by 2.8% during the second quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 13,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of APA by 12.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of APA by 6.7% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 6,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR grew its stake in shares of APA by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 49,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,775,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of APA by 18.1% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,865 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Trading Up 1.4 %

APA stock opened at $26.89 on Monday. APA has a 52 week low of $22.72 and a 52 week high of $43.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 3.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.64.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. APA had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 32.66%. APA’s quarterly revenue was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Analysts expect that APA will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. APA’s payout ratio is presently 11.19%.

APA Company Profile

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.