APA (NASDAQ:APA) Upgraded to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of APA (NASDAQ:APA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Susquehanna upped their target price on APA from $37.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group upped their target price on APA from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of APA from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.81.

APA Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $38.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. APA has a 52-week low of $16.15 and a 52-week high of $45.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.03. The stock has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 0.38.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 17.38%.The company had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that APA will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at APA

In other news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total transaction of $833,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,634 shares in the company, valued at $240,349.82. This represents a 77.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in APA by 5.1% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 809,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,339,000 after purchasing an additional 39,375 shares during the period. Clough Capital Partners L P acquired a new stake in APA in the first quarter worth $3,206,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in APA in the first quarter worth $20,595,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its holdings in APA by 7.9% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 97,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,154,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the period. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in APA in the first quarter worth $401,000. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent exploration and production company engaged in the acquisition, development and production of oil and natural gas resources. The company operates through three core regions: the United States, Egypt and the North Sea. Through its integrated approach, APA combines geological and geophysical expertise with technical innovation to identify and develop hydrocarbons in both onshore and offshore settings.

In the United States, APA’s largest position is in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, where it holds substantial acreage dedicated to oil-focused drilling and production.