APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Price Up 3.6% – Time to Buy?

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA)’s share price traded up 3.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $46.89 and last traded at $46.6290. 1,081,047 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,752,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.03.

Key Headlines Impacting APA

Here are the key news stories impacting APA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: APA’s board declared a regular cash dividend and increased the company’s share-repurchase authorization, signaling confidence in cash generation and potentially supporting per-share value. APA Corporation declares cash dividend on common shares and increases share repurchase authorization
• Positive Sentiment: Technical analysis suggested APA may have broken through longstanding resistance near $45, which could indicate reduced selling pressure and the potential beginning of a new uptrend. Stock of the Day: Did APA Corporation Break Major Resistance?
• Positive Sentiment: APA recently reached a new 52-week high, reinforcing the stock’s strong recent momentum, although the move may also have encouraged profit-taking. APA Hits New 52-Week High
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks Research maintained a “Hold” rating. Its revisions were mixed: estimates increased for fourth-quarter 2026, second-quarter 2027 and full-year 2027 EPS, but declined for first- and second-quarter 2028 EPS, leaving the longer-term outlook uneven.
• Negative Sentiment: APA fell more than the broader market in the latest session, suggesting investors may have been locking in gains after the stock’s strong rally and approach to its 52-week high. Here’s Why APA Fell More Than Broader Market

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of APA from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of APA in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of APA from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of APA from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.97.

APA Stock Down 5.5%

The stock has a market cap of $15.69 billion, a PE ratio of 9.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.87.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. APA had a return on equity of 24.84% and a net margin of 19.48%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that APA Corporation will post 5.7 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. APA’s payout ratio is currently 21.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in APA during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,173,231,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of APA by 6.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,376,952 shares of the company’s stock valued at $695,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055,016 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,569,779 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of APA by 55.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,154,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,473,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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. 83.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation (NASDAQ: APA) is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company operates through subsidiaries and manages upstream assets spanning exploration, drilling, production and related field-development activities.

APA’s principal producing operations are in the Permian Basin of the United States and in Egypt. The company has also pursued offshore exploration opportunities in Suriname, where it has participated in drilling and appraisal activities in the country’s offshore blocks.