APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Truist Financial Analyst Says

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price objective raised by analysts at Truist Financial from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Truist Financial‘s target price points to a potential upside of 12.03% from the company’s previous close.

APA has been the subject of several other reports. Argus raised shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Seaport Research Partners initiated coverage on shares of APA in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. UBS Group increased their price objective on APA from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Zacks Research raised APA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of APA in a report on Monday, September 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.14.

APA Price Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $44.63 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.29. APA has a one year low of $23.06 and a one year high of $52.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.08.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.34. APA had a net margin of 23.08% and a return on equity of 28.34%. The company had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that APA will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

APA declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 16th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in APA during the second quarter valued at $835,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in APA in the second quarter worth $1,468,000. Core Capital Management & Research inc. purchased a new stake in shares of APA in the second quarter worth $5,800,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of APA by 30.3% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 276,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,992,000 after acquiring an additional 64,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of APA in the second quarter worth $10,703,000. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation is an independent energy company that explores for, develops and produces crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its activities include operating wells and related infrastructure, as well as evaluating and developing oil and natural gas resources.

The company’s principal operating areas include the United States and Egypt. APA also has offshore exploration interests in Suriname, where it has worked with partners to assess resources in the region.

APA traces its history to Apache Corporation, founded in 1954.