APA (NASDAQ:APA) Given New $26.00 Price Target at Jefferies Financial Group

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its target price boosted by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $22.00 to $26.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 20.44% from the stock’s current price.

APA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of APA from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of APA from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair began coverage on shares of APA in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on APA from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of APA from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.33.

APA Stock Performance

APA opened at $32.68 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $27.04 and a 200 day moving average of $24.99. APA has a fifty-two week low of $13.58 and a fifty-two week high of $33.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.19, a PEG ratio of 16.95 and a beta of 0.67.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. APA had a net margin of 15.55% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that APA will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of APA

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of APA by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,321,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,786,000 after buying an additional 1,291,706 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in APA by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 14,710,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $359,807,000 after buying an additional 285,542 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,864,900 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of APA by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 7,171,963 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,426,000 after buying an additional 3,117,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in APA by 29.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,462,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,326 shares during the last quarter. 83.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.