APA (NASDAQ:APA) Price Target Raised to $40.00

Key Points

• Sanford C. Bernstein raised its price target on APA from $37 to $40 while keeping a market perform rating. The new target implies a slight downside from the current share price.
• APA has seen several other analyst target revisions recently, with ratings ranging from outperform to sell. MarketBeat says the stock’s overall consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of about $40.08.
• The company reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting EPS of $1.38 versus the $1.11 estimate and revenue of $2.33 billion versus $2.13 billion expected. Shares were trading around $40.47 on Wednesday, near the updated analyst target.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by equities research analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from $37.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein's target price points to a potential downside of 1.17% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on APA. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on APA from $31.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of APA from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of APA from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $26.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Capital One Financial increased their target price on shares of APA from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, APA currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.08.

APA Stock Performance

APA traded down $0.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 875,946 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,848,111. The company has a market capitalization of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.44 and a beta of 0.38. The company's fifty day moving average price is $38.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.33. APA has a 52-week low of $16.15 and a 52-week high of $45.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 17.38%.The business had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that APA will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at APA

In related news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of APA 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at $240,349.82. The trade was a 77.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of APA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in APA by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,376,952 shares of the company's stock worth $695,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055,016 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in APA by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company's stock valued at $359,807,000 after purchasing an additional 285,542 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of APA by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company's stock worth $255,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864,900 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $175,426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of APA by 1,726.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company's stock worth $205,176,000 after buying an additional 4,569,779 shares in the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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