Wells Fargo & Company Begins Coverage on APA (NASDAQ:APA)

Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of APA (NASDAQ:APA) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on APA. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of APA from $44.00 to $43.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of APA in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of APA from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of APA from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of APA from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.25.

APA Trading Up 0.4 %

APA stock opened at $32.49 on Wednesday. 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 has a 50-day moving average price of $32.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 3.27. APA has a 52-week low of $29.47 and a 52-week high of $46.15.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. APA had a net margin of 34.95% and a return on equity of 62.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.48 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that APA will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. APA’s payout ratio is currently 10.78%.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APA. Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in shares of APA by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 15,705,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367,570 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of APA by 5.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,719,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,714,656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,003,862 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of APA by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,299,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938,335 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of APA by 130.0% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,534,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,037,000 after acquiring an additional 867,257 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of APA by 1,527.3% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 921,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,880,000 after acquiring an additional 865,026 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.