Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its target price hoisted by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $22.00 to $23.00 in a report released on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 5.66% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on APA. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on APA from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on shares of APA from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of APA from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of APA in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of APA from $28.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.56.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA opened at $24.38 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.77. APA has a 12 month low of $13.58 and a 12 month high of $25.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.28 and a beta of 1.12.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. APA had a return on equity of 20.98% and a net margin of 10.53%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that APA will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in APA by 34.2% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 269,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,665,000 after purchasing an additional 68,725 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of APA in the first quarter worth approximately $3,636,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in shares of APA in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,255,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of APA in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,717,000. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of APA during the first quarter valued at approximately $559,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

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.