APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $35.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 5.72% from the stock’s previous close.

APA has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore boosted their price target on shares of APA from $25.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of APA from $24.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Raymond James Financial lifted their price objective on shares of APA from $31.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of APA from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on APA from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.81.

APA Stock Down 0.1%

APA stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.78. The company had a trading volume of 462,053 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,779,803. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $13.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.38. APA has a fifty-two week low of $16.75 and a fifty-two week high of $45.66.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.27. APA had a return on equity of 20.70% and a net margin of 17.38%.The business had revenue of $2.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.13 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.06 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that APA will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at APA

In related news, VP Mark D. Maddox sold 9,800 shares of APA stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.04, for a total transaction of $392,392.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 66,810 shares in the company, valued at $2,675,072.40. This trade represents a 12.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $240,349.82. This trade represents a 77.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in APA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in APA by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $359,807,000 after buying an additional 285,542 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in APA by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,425,586 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,010,000 after buying an additional 1,864,900 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 3,117,032 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in APA by 1,726.2% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,176,000 after buying an additional 4,569,779 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

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.