APA (NASDAQ:APA) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $52.52 and last traded at $52.0770, with a volume of 410,581 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $51.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised their price target on APA from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on APA from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of APA from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of APA from $36.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on APA from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.76.

APA Stock Up 1.9%

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.44. The company has a market capitalization of $18.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). APA had a return on equity of 24.84% and a net margin of 19.48%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that APA Corporation will post 6.46 EPS for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 22nd. APA’s payout ratio is 21.14%.

APA announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, September 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On APA

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in APA. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of APA in the second quarter valued at $1,173,231,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 1.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,181,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,159,000 after acquiring an additional 377,429 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of APA by 6.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 16,376,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,099,000 after buying an additional 1,055,016 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in APA by 1,726.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,834,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,569,779 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in APA by 55.0% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,154,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473,626 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Company Profile

APA Corporation is an independent energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. The company’s activities include identifying hydrocarbon resources, drilling and completing wells, operating producing properties, and managing related infrastructure.

APA’s principal producing areas include the Permian Basin in the United States and Egypt’s Western Desert, where it operates through joint ventures with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.