APA (NASDAQ:APA) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) shares gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $40.00. The stock had previously closed at $37.90, but opened at $34.62. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. APA shares last traded at $33.6420, with a volume of 1,956,132 shares.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of APA in a report on Monday, December 29th. Stephens boosted their price target on APA from $24.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Capital One Financial boosted their price target on APA from $32.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Truist Financial started coverage on APA in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a “hold” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on APA from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.69.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other APA news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of APA stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,349.82. The trade was a 77.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in APA. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of APA by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of APA by 157.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,060,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,869,891 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of APA by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864,900 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of APA by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,030,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,674,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of APA by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,326 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

APA Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51 and a beta of 0.49.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. APA had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 15.55%.The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is presently 25.06%.

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.