The Goldman Sachs Group Trims APA (NASDAQ:APA) Target Price to $31.00

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its target price lowered by The Goldman Sachs Group from $35.00 to $31.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sell rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on APA. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of APA from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of APA from $53.00 to $50.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of APA from $48.00 to $41.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 14th. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of APA in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of APA from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $43.61.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:APA opened at $34.38 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.51. APA has a 12-month low of $29.47 and a 12-month high of $46.15. The firm has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a PE ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 3.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. APA had a return on equity of 62.64% and a net margin of 34.95%. The business’s revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.48 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that APA will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.78%.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APA. Harris Associates L P increased its holdings in APA by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 13,374,458 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,005,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470,829 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in APA by 191.1% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,144,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,952,000 after buying an additional 2,064,022 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in APA by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,719,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,714,656,000 after buying an additional 2,003,862 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in APA by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,299,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $728,347,000 after buying an additional 1,938,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in APA by 113.4% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,026,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,245,000 after buying an additional 1,076,668 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

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.