BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Price

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $35.00 to $47.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 25.94% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on APA. Bank of America upped their target price on APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on APA from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Raymond James Financial upped their target price on APA from $31.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on APA from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on APA from $24.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.54.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $37.32 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $27.47. APA has a one year low of $13.58 and a one year high of $45.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

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

Insider Transactions at APA

In other APA news, Director Matthew Regis Bob sold 23,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in APA by 6.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 33,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 2,070 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of APA by 49.6% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 10,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,578 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of APA by 43.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,668,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,092,000 after purchasing an additional 806,252 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of APA by 10.6% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 44,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after purchasing an additional 4,297 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of APA by 2,545.0% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 16,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 15,652 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is 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.