StockNews.com Upgrades APA (NASDAQ:APA) to “Buy”

APA (NASDAQ:APA) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of APA from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of APA from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of APA from $59.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Johnson Rice downgraded shares of APA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of APA from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, APA has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $42.25.

APA Price Performance

APA stock opened at $32.05 on Tuesday. APA has a 52 week low of $29.47 and a 52 week high of $46.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a PE ratio of 3.45 and a beta of 3.27.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.18). APA had a return on equity of 62.64% and a net margin of 34.95%. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.48 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that APA will post 4.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of APA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in APA during the 3rd quarter worth $256,000. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in APA in the third quarter worth approximately $218,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in APA in the third quarter worth approximately $128,000. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in APA by 98.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 29,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,204,000 after buying an additional 14,535 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NovaPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in APA by 5.8% in the third quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 6,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. 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.