APA (NASDAQ:APA) Now Covered by Truist Financial

Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of APA (NASDAQ:APA) in a research report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Capital One Financial increased their price objective on APA from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on APA from $29.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on APA from $22.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, March 9th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on APA from $30.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.69.

APA Stock Performance

APA stock opened at $40.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.23 and a beta of 0.67. APA has a 1-year low of $13.58 and a 1-year high of $41.45.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. APA had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that APA will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 22nd. 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 APA stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $240,349.82. The trade was a 77.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in APA by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,321,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,786,000 after buying an additional 1,291,706 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in APA by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,807,000 after acquiring an additional 285,542 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in APA by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,010,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864,900 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of APA by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,426,000 after acquiring an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of APA by 29.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,326 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting APA

Here are the key news stories impacting APA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays upgraded APA from underweight to equal weight, citing a better gas‑marketing/LNG outlook — a key catalyst investors are citing for today’s rally. Barclays upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: APA reported a natural‑gas discovery in Egypt’s Western Desert, which supports upstream growth prospects and near‑term production optionality. Egypt discovery
• Positive Sentiment: Reported short interest declined from ~34.5M shares to ~29.7M shares (as of March 13), lowering the days‑to‑cover to ~3.2 — fewer shorts can reduce squeeze risk and support upward momentum.
• Neutral Sentiment: Evercore raised its price target to $40 (from $25) but kept a Neutral rating — PT lift is constructive, but the maintained neutral view tempers upside expectations. Evercore note
• Neutral Sentiment: Several market pieces and technical writeups note APA’s strong multi‑year run and rapid recent gains, prompting debate over valuation and whether momentum is already priced in. Valuation discussion
• Neutral Sentiment: Some short‑interest data releases in the feed show 0 shares/NaN changes — likely reporting artifacts; treat those specific lines as unreliable until confirmed by exchange filings.
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman Sachs kept a Sell rating and marginally raised its PT to $30, and Truist started coverage with a Hold and $38 target — both targets sit below the current market price and may cap upside for cautious investors. Goldman note
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling reported (director sold ~$833k of stock) — not large enough alone to change fundamentals but can weigh on near‑term sentiment. Insider sale

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.