APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

by · The Cerbat Gem

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA – Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $45.44.

APA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on shares of APA from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of APA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of APA from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of APA from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of APA from $61.00 to $44.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday.

View Our Latest Report on APA

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC bought a new position in APA in the first quarter valued at about $295,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of APA by 3,173.6% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 17,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after purchasing an additional 16,566 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of APA during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $145,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new position in APA during the 1st quarter worth approximately $328,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in APA by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,362,836 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,324,000 after purchasing an additional 29,907 shares during the last quarter. 80.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $34.34 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 3.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.65, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.89. APA has a one year low of $30.67 and a one year high of $46.98.

APA (NASDAQ:APA – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $2.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. APA had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 92.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that APA will post 5 EPS for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 19th. APA’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.49%.

APA Company Profile

(Get Free Report

APA Corporation, through its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has operations in the United States, Egypt, and the United Kingdom, as well as has exploration activities offshore Suriname. The company also operates gathering, compression, processing, and transmission assets in West Texas, as well as holds ownership in four Permian Basin long-haul pipeline.

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