BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Price

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price objective upped by BMO Capital Markets from $35.00 to $47.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,MarketScreener reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of APA from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of APA from $25.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of APA in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of APA from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, APA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.54.

APA Price Performance

APA stock traded down $4.65 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.31. The company had a trading volume of 6,346,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,172,100. The company has a market capitalization of $13.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. APA has a 1 year low of $13.58 and a 1 year high of $45.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.47.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. APA had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that APA will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. APA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other APA news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $240,349.82. This trade represents a 77.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 276.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 1,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 115.1% during the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 1,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 710 shares during the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new stake in shares of APA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 179.6% during the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new position in shares of APA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.