APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, sixteen have assigned a hold recommendation and six have given a 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 $26.7273.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on APA. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of APA from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of APA from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of APA from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of APA from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on APA from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th.

APA Price Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $24.36 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.58 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $24.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.22. APA has a one year low of $13.58 and a one year high of $27.72.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. APA had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 15.49%.APA’s quarterly revenue was down 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Equities analysts expect that APA will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio is 24.04%.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in shares of APA by 276.7% in the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new position in APA in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in APA by 179.6% during the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 977 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. bought a new stake in APA during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC boosted its position in APA by 6,096.7% during the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,859 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,829 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas resources. The company operates through three core regions: the United States, Egypt and the North Sea. Through its integrated approach, APA combines geological and geophysical expertise with technical innovation to identify and develop hydrocarbons in both onshore and offshore settings.

In the United States, APA’s largest position is in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it holds substantial acreage dedicated to oil-focused drilling and production.