APA (NASDAQ:APA) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $45.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. APA traded as high as $45.66 and last traded at $44.5680, with a volume of 2495919 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $44.39.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm raised their price target on APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on APA from $31.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Capital One Financial raised their target price on shares of APA from $32.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of APA from $22.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of APA from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Seven research 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.58.

Insider Transactions at APA

In other APA news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at $240,349.82. This represents 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 link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of APA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APA. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in APA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 106,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,609,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in APA by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 185,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,547,000 after buying an additional 52,376 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new position in APA during the fourth quarter valued at $244,000. Compound Planning Inc. raised its stake in shares of APA by 45.5% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 15,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 4,744 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of APA by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 102,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,506,000 after acquiring an additional 12,211 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Down 1.5%

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $31.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.68. The stock has a market cap of $15.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. APA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.06%.

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.