APA (NASDAQ:APA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of APA (NASDAQ:APA) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock.

APA has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on APA from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho cut their target price on APA from $36.00 to $34.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial cut their target price on APA from $59.00 to $53.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an underweight rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on APA from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $42.25.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $32.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.52. APA has a one year low of $29.47 and a one year high of $46.15. The firm has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 3.27.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by ($0.18). APA had a net margin of 34.95% and a return on equity of 62.64%. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that APA will post 4.96 EPS for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. APA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APA. Harris Associates L P increased its stake in shares of APA by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 15,705,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,520,000 after buying an additional 2,367,570 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in APA by 5.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,719,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,714,656,000 after purchasing an additional 2,003,862 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in APA by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,299,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $728,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,335 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in APA by 130.0% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,534,209 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,037,000 after purchasing an additional 867,257 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in APA by 1,527.3% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 921,662 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,880,000 after purchasing an additional 865,026 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.