Bank of America Boosts APA (NASDAQ:APA) Price Target to $27.00

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $23.00 to $27.00 in a report released on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an “underperform” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 24.73% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of APA from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. William Blair initiated coverage on APA in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of APA in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Evercore boosted their price target on APA from $21.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Johnson Rice raised APA from a “hold” rating to an “accumulate” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, APA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.16.

APA Price Performance

NASDAQ:APA opened at $35.87 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a P/E/G ratio of 17.04 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.56. APA has a one year low of $13.58 and a one year high of $36.00. 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 (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. APA had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. APA’s quarterly revenue was down 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that APA will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

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