Wolfe Research Boosts APA (NASDAQ:APA) Price Target to $47.00

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Wolfe Research from $45.00 to $47.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.20% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial started coverage on APA in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of APA in a report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $25.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of APA from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on APA from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, APA presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.46.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $42.27 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. APA has a 52 week low of $13.58 and a 52 week high of $45.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.62 and a beta of 0.49.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.29. APA had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that APA will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 6,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,349.82. The trade was a 77.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in APA by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,426,000 after buying an additional 3,117,032 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of APA by 157.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,060,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,970,000 after acquiring an additional 1,869,891 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,864,900 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of APA by 13.6% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,030,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $340,657,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of APA by 29.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,326 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

About APA

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.