APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded APA from a "buy" to a "hold"; the Street consensus remains a "Hold" with an average price target of $39.50.
• APA beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.91 vs. $0.62) and reported $1.99B in revenue, but revenue was down 26.6% year‑over‑year, and analysts forecast about 4.83 EPS for the year.
• Shares trade near $40 (12‑month range $15.20–$45.66) with a P/E of 10.06 and market cap ≈ $14.2B; insiders own 0.73% while institutions own ~83%, and a director sold 23,000 shares in March.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

APA has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group upped 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of APA from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of APA from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of APA from $24.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.50.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $40.13 on Friday. APA has a 12 month low of $15.20 and a 12 month high of $45.66. 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 stock has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.12.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last posted 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 analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that APA will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at APA

In related news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at $240,349.82. This represents a 77.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of APA

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of APA by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,321,936 shares of the company's stock valued at $374,786,000 after buying an additional 1,291,706 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 285,542 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in APA by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company's stock valued at $255,010,000 after buying an additional 1,864,900 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of APA by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company's stock valued at $175,426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of APA by 29.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company's stock.

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.

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