APA (NASDAQ:APA) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s Why

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $20.09 and last traded at $20.42, with a volume of 18476400 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $22.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on APA shares. Raymond James upped their target price on APA from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered APA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $25.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on APA from $29.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on APA from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on APA from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.65.

APA Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $7.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 3.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $22.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.10.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.18). The company had revenue of $2.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.31 billion. APA had a net margin of 24.36% and a return on equity of 27.86%. As a group, analysts predict that APA Co. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

APA Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.83%. APA’s payout ratio is 44.25%.

Insider Activity at APA

In other APA news, Director Juliet S. Ellis bought 4,391 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.78 per share, for a total transaction of $100,026.98. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 12,436 shares in the company, valued at $283,292.08. This trade represents a 54.58 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of APA by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 30,471,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,341,000 after acquiring an additional 3,411,270 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in shares of APA by 20.8% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 24,914,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $609,414,000 after acquiring an additional 4,293,932 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of APA by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,230,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $305,498,000 after acquiring an additional 850,052 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of APA by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,886,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,540,000 after acquiring an additional 894,574 shares during the period. Finally, Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of APA by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Smead Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,667,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,466,000 after acquiring an additional 326,042 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.01% of the company’s stock.

APA Company Profile

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.