APA (NASDAQ:APA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday. The stock traded as high as $49.53 and last traded at $49.3130, with a volume of 431,269 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $49.15.

Key Headlines Impacting APA

Here are the key news stories impacting APA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Susquehanna raised its price target for APA from $47 to $58 and upgraded its rating to “positive.” The new target implies approximately 16% upside from the referenced price, providing a bullish catalyst for the shares.
• Positive Sentiment: Rising earnings estimates are supporting the stock’s near-term outlook. Zacks said upward estimate revisions could help APA continue gaining, while its momentum analysis identified the company as a potential candidate for momentum-focused investors. Earnings Estimates Rising for APA: Will It Gain? APA Is a Great Momentum Stock
• Positive Sentiment: APA recently outperformed the broader market in a trading session, reinforcing the stock’s strong momentum. APA Surpasses Market Returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts tracked by American Banking News have an average target price of $44.38, below the referenced market price. This contrasts with Susquehanna’s more bullish $58 target and highlights significant disagreement in the analyst outlook. APA Stock Has Average Target Price of $44.38
• Neutral Sentiment: A dividend-focused article lists stocks going ex-dividend this week, but the provided report does not establish a specific new dividend catalyst for APA. Five Dividend Stocks Going Ex-Dividend This Week

Analyst Ratings Changes

APA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank assumed coverage on APA in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on APA from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. KeyCorp set a $46.00 target price on APA in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $49.00 price target on shares of APA in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners assumed coverage on shares of APA in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.76.

APA Trading Up 0.3%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $44.08 and a 200-day moving average of $39.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $17.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.42.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. APA had a return on equity of 24.84% and a net margin of 19.48%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. APA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.14%.

APA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 16th that allows the company to buy back 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Share buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of APA

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of APA by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its holdings in APA by 36.7% in the 1st quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in APA by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 106,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,609,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its position in APA by 4.3% during the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 9,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in APA by 37.9% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,489 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s activities include identifying hydrocarbon resources, drilling and completing wells, operating producing properties, and managing related infrastructure.

APA’s principal producing areas include the Permian Basin in the United States and Egypt’s Western Desert, where it operates through joint ventures with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.