APA (NASDAQ:APA) Upgraded at Scotiabank

APA (NASDAQ:APA) was upgraded by research analysts at Scotiabank to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Friday, October 9th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on APA from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Susquehanna boosted their target price on APA from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Mizuho boosted their target price on APA from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research raised APA from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, APA currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.38.

APA Price Performance

APA stock traded up $1.92 on Wednesday, reaching $49.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,325,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,669,751. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.39, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.24. APA has a twelve month low of $21.63 and a twelve month high of $49.26.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. APA had a net margin of 19.48% and a return on equity of 24.84%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that APA will post 6.00 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

APA declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 16th that allows the company to buy back 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in APA during the 2nd quarter worth $1,173,231,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of APA by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,181,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,159,000 after purchasing an additional 377,429 shares during the period. 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 valued at $695,099,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055,016 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of APA by 1,726.2% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,569,779 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of APA by 55.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,154,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,626 shares during the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is owned by 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’s activities include identifying prospective resources, drilling and completing wells, and managing producing assets across multiple international markets.

APA’s operations have historically been concentrated in the Permian Basin of the United States and in Egypt’s Western Desert, where it participates in exploration and production activities through joint ventures.