APA (NASDAQ:APA) Shares Down 3.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA)’s share price fell 3.9% during trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $26.00 to $25.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. APA traded as low as $25.42 and last traded at $25.4920. 1,462,146 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 5,482,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.54.

APA has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of APA from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on APA from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho raised their price objective on APA from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of APA in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, APA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.39.

Trending Headlines about APA

Here are the key news stories impacting APA this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company-reported positives — APA repurchased 2.7 million shares in 4Q25 at an average $24.17 and reported a pre-tax net gain of $193 million on oil & gas purchases/sales, supporting shareholder value and liquidity. QuiverQuant bulletin
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan trimmed its price target to $25 and kept a neutral rating — a modest PT cut that signals limited upside from recent levels. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies raised its target to $22 and maintains a hold — another relatively muted analyst view that keeps expectations around current levels. MarketScreener
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded APA from Hold to Strong Sell and trimmed near-term EPS estimates — a steep sell-side view that increases downside pressure and may prompt selling by quantitatively driven funds. Zacks.com
• Negative Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed an underweight stance (downgrade coverage) — another influential bank signaling limited conviction, adding to negative sentiment. MSN/coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman raised its PT to $23 but kept a Sell rating — the maintained sell call reinforces downside expectations from a major sell-side voice. MarketScreener
• Negative Sentiment: Operational headwinds disclosed in APA’s 4Q25 supplemental info — the company curtailed ~91 MMcf/d of U.S. gas and ~7,600 b/d of NGLs due to weak hub prices and recorded $36M of transaction/reorganization costs; these factors directly weigh on near-term results. GlobeNewswire

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of APA. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 869.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 194,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,872,000 after buying an additional 174,369 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of APA by 38.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 284,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,199,000 after acquiring an additional 79,451 shares in the last quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in APA by 33.3% in the second quarter. Pacific Heights Asset Management LLC now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,316,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in APA by 98.7% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 51,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $950,000 after acquiring an additional 25,787 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in APA by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 914,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,729,000 after acquiring an additional 165,006 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Stock Down 3.7%

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.03. The firm has a market cap of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 6.14, a P/E/G ratio of 11.31 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.19. APA had a return on equity of 19.86% and a net margin of 15.49%.The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. APA’s revenue was down 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that APA Corporation will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 22nd. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. APA’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

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.