APA (NASDAQ:APA) Price Target Lowered to $32.00 at Mizuho

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price target decreased by Mizuho from $34.00 to $32.00 in a report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Mizuho currently has an underperform rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on APA from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on APA from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded APA from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays started coverage on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an underweight rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of APA in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $42.05.

APA Stock Up 0.3 %

APA stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $29.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,598,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,909,536. The company has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 3.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. APA has a 12 month low of $28.90 and a 12 month high of $46.15.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.12). APA had a net margin of 34.04% and a return on equity of 50.56%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that APA will post 5.03 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. APA’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.19%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in APA by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,643,529 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,530,050,000 after buying an additional 924,400 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of APA by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 20,299,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $728,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,335 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P grew its stake in APA by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 15,705,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,367,570 shares during the period. Smead Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in APA by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,235,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $187,866,000 after purchasing an additional 626,460 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in APA by 1.9% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,815,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,701,000 after purchasing an additional 53,241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

About APA

APA Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. It has oil and gas operations in the United States, Egypt, and North Sea. The company also has exploration and appraisal activities in Suriname, as well as holds interests in projects located in Uruguay and internationally.