APA (NASDAQ:APA) Price Target Lowered to $41.00 at Morgan Stanley

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $41.00 in a research report released on Friday,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research increased their price target on APA from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Roth Mkm upgraded APA from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded APA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on APA from $38.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on APA from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, APA presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.96.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock traded down $0.41 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $33.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,567,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,391,444. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.62. 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 one year low of $17.86 and a one year high of $45.66. The stock has a market cap of $11.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 0.33.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 17.38% and a return on equity of 20.70%. The firm had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. APA’s revenue was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that APA will post 5.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is currently 23.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total value of $392,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 66,810 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,675,072.40. This represents a 12.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of APA by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,376,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,016 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of APA by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,807,000 after acquiring an additional 285,542 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in APA by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,010,000 after purchasing an additional 1,864,900 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in APA by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,426,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in APA by 1,726.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,569,779 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.