APA Corporation $APA Stock Holdings Boosted by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. has increased its stake in APA Corporation by 2.0%, now owning 641,750 shares valued at approximately $13.49 million.
• APA Corporation reported earnings of $0.87 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, but noted a 14.4% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The stock currently has an average price target of $23.72 with ratings varying from "Buy" to "Sell" among analysts.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 641,750 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,746 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of APA worth $13,490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of APA by 46.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,080,787 shares of the company's stock worth $190,876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,894,543 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of APA by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,297,871 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,328,000 after buying an additional 1,195,212 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of APA during the first quarter valued at approximately $22,533,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in APA by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,932,980 shares of the company's stock worth $292,871,000 after buying an additional 1,046,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of APA during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,796,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on APA. Mizuho reduced their price target on APA from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Argus raised shares of APA to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Roth Capital lowered shares of APA from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $22.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of APA from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Cowen reissued a "hold" rating on shares of APA in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $23.72.

APA Stock Performance

NASDAQ:APA traded down $1.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $22.67. The stock had a trading volume of 4,641,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,921,119. APA Corporation has a 52 week low of $13.58 and a 52 week high of $27.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.59, a P/E/G ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.42. APA had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 10.53%.The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.03 billion. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has oil and gas operations in the United States, Egypt, and North Sea. The company also has exploration and appraisal activities in Suriname, as well as holds interests in projects located in Uruguay and internationally.