APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Keeps “Equal Weight” Rating at Stephens

APA (NASDAQ:APA)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $49.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 7.76% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on APA. KeyCorp set a $46.00 price objective on APA in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of APA to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Seaport Research Partners began coverage on shares of APA in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, APA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.21.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $45.47 on Friday. APA has a 12 month low of $21.63 and a 12 month high of $47.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.98. The stock has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a PE ratio of 9.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.42.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. APA had a return on equity of 24.84% and a net margin of 19.48%.During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that APA will post 5.8 earnings per share for the current year.

APA declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, September 16th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of APA. CX Institutional boosted its position in APA by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 167,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,966,000 after acquiring an additional 28,175 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in APA by 14.6% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,036 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,344 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in APA by 8.5% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 363,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,824,000 after purchasing an additional 28,474 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,181,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,159,000 after buying an additional 377,429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Capital Management & Research inc. bought a new stake in shares of APA in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,800,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

About APA

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) 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 prospective resources, drilling and completing wells, and managing producing assets across multiple international markets.

APA’s operations have historically been concentrated in the Permian Basin of the United States and in Egypt’s Western Desert, where it participates in exploration and production activities through joint ventures.