Stephens Reaffirms "Equal Weight" Rating for APA (NASDAQ:APA)

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $49.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens' price target points to a potential upside of 7.76% from the stock's previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of APA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of APA from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Argus raised shares of APA from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.21.

APA Stock Performance

APA stock opened at $45.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.98. APA has a 52 week low of $21.63 and a 52 week high of $47.44.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. APA had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 24.84%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that APA will post 5.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Two Sigma Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of APA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $835,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in shares of APA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,468,000. Core Capital Management & Research inc. bought a new position in shares of APA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,800,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 30.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 276,070 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,992,000 after buying an additional 64,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of APA in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $10,703,000. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation NASDAQ: APA is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company's activities include identifying prospective resources, drilling and completing wells, and managing producing assets across multiple international markets.

APA's operations have historically been concentrated in the Permian Basin of the United States and in Egypt's Western Desert, where it participates in exploration and production activities through joint ventures.