Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Sector Perform” Rating for APA (NASDAQ:APA)

APA (NASDAQ:APA)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $41.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price points to a potential upside of 62.44% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on shares of APA in a report on Friday, June 14th. Evercore ISI lowered APA from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $52.00 to $39.00 in a report on Friday, June 14th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of APA from $34.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on APA from $37.00 to $30.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut APA from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.81.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $25.24 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 3.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. APA has a one year low of $25.09 and a one year high of $44.98.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. APA had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 32.66%. APA’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that APA will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On APA

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American National Bank increased its stake in APA by 208.5% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of APA by 75.4% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of APA during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of APA by 386.7% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,358 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in APA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Institutional investors 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.