APA (NASDAQ:APA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of APA (NASDAQ:APA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on APA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on APA from $39.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup lifted their target price on APA from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of APA from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of APA from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of APA from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $42.96 on Friday. APA has a 52 week low of $21.47 and a 52 week high of $45.66. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.98. 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 stock has a market cap of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.35.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. APA had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 24.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that APA will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in APA by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in APA by 49.6% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in APA by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,668,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,092,000 after buying an additional 806,252 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in APA by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 44,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after buying an additional 4,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of APA during the second quarter valued at about $5,199,000. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About APA

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.