APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

APA (NASDAQ:APA) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on APA from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of APA from $53.00 to $51.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of APA from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 28th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Friday, October 6th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their target price on APA from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.88.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $36.87 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.41. The firm has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.56, a P/E/G ratio of 6.34 and a beta of 3.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65. APA has a 12 month low of $30.67 and a 12 month high of $48.55.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.25. APA had a return on equity of 92.51% and a net margin of 17.62%. The company had revenue of $2.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that APA will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of APA by 44.2% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 173,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,124,000 after acquiring an additional 53,112 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al increased its position in shares of APA by 72,245.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 144,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,930,000 after purchasing an additional 144,490 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of APA by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,126,215 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,588,000 after purchasing an additional 527,246 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 2,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in APA by 16.2% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 23,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $956,000 after buying an additional 3,245 shares during the period. 80.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About APA

APA Corporation, through its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has operations in the United States, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, as well as has exploration activities offshore Suriname. The company also operates gathering, compression, processing, and transmission assets in West Texas, as well as holds ownership in four Permian Basin long-haul pipeline.