Scotiabank Has Optimistic Outlook of APA FY2026 Earnings

Key Points

• Scotiabank sharply raised APA's FY2026 EPS forecast to $6.05 (from $1.10) and FY2027 to $4.90, while keeping a "Sector Perform" rating and a $36 price target.
• Despite several price-target increases from firms like Wells Fargo, Roth MKM and Raymond James, the street consensus is a "Hold" with an average price target of $39.50 and analyst counts of 7 Buys, 20 Holds and 4 Sells.
• APA trades around $38.43 with a $13.58B market cap and a P/E of 9.63, recently beat quarterly EPS estimates, and pays a $0.25 quarterly dividend (≈2.6% yield).

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA - Free Report) - Analysts at Scotiabank lifted their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for APA in a research note issued on Thursday, April 23rd. Scotiabank analyst B. Zhang now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $6.05 for the year, up from their prior estimate of $1.10. Scotiabank has a "Sector Perform" rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for APA's current full-year earnings is $4.28 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for APA's FY2027 earnings at $4.90 EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on APA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on APA from $21.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on APA from $27.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on APA from $25.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.50.

APA Price Performance

APA opened at $38.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 0.49. APA has a 1 year low of $15.20 and a 1 year 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 fifty day moving average price of $36.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.79.

APA (NASDAQ:APA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.89 billion. APA had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 15.55%.The business's revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in APA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of APA by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,300 shares of the company's stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of APA by 49.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,785 shares of the company's stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of APA by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,668,505 shares of the company's stock worth $56,092,000 after purchasing an additional 806,252 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of APA by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 44,833 shares of the company's stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 4,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of APA during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,199,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

APA Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 22nd. APA's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.06%.

Key APA News

Here are the key news stories impacting APA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank sharply raised its earnings forecasts for APA — boosting FY2026 EPS to $6.05 (from $1.10) and FY2027 EPS to $4.90 (from $1.50). The revisions signal materially better expected profitability, which supports a higher valuation and likely drove buying interest. Note: Scotiabank left a "Sector Perform" rating and a $36 price target.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks added APA to its "New Strong Buy Stocks" list (April 28). Inclusion on the Zacks Rank #1 list tends to attract momentum and retail/income investors who follow the model. New Strong Buy Stocks for April 28th
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also listed APA on its "Best Income Stocks to Buy" Strong Buy list, which can increase demand from income-focused investors. Best Income Stocks to Buy for April 28th
• Positive Sentiment: APA was named a Zacks "Best Value Stock" (Strong Buy), reinforcing the view that the shares may be undervalued relative to revised earnings expectations. Best Value Stocks to Buy for April 28th
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles referencing "APA" relate to the American Psychological Association (guidance on citing generative AI and other APA-related commentary). These are unrelated to APA Corporation and are unlikely to affect the oil & gas company’s fundamentals. APA updates rules for citing generative AI in research
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional unrelated pieces about APA (citation guidance and commentary) are present and should be disregarded for investment decisions regarding APA Corporation. Master APA citations without losing your mind American Psychological Association’s Actions Speak Louder Than Its Apology

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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