APA (NASDAQ:APA) Price Target Raised to $44.00

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price objective hoisted by Truist Financial from $39.00 to $44.00 in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut APA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Monday, September 7th. KeyCorp set a $46.00 price objective on APA in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of APA from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.14.

APA Stock Performance

APA stock opened at $43.70 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a PE ratio of 9.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.70 and a 200-day moving average of $38.31. APA has a 12-month low of $21.63 and a 12-month high of $47.44.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. APA had a return on equity of 24.84% and a net margin of 19.48%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that APA will post 5.8 earnings per share for the current year.

APA declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 22nd. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.14%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of APA in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,173,231,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of APA by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,181,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,159,000 after buying an additional 377,429 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of APA by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,376,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $695,099,000 after buying an additional 1,055,016 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in APA by 1,726.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,176,000 after buying an additional 4,569,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in APA by 55.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,154,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,309,000 after buying an additional 1,473,626 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company operates through subsidiaries and manages upstream assets spanning exploration, drilling, production and related field-development activities.

APA’s principal producing operations are in the Permian Basin of the United States and in Egypt. The company has also pursued offshore exploration opportunities in Suriname, where it has participated in drilling and appraisal activities in the country’s offshore blocks.