The Goldman Sachs Group Has Lowered Expectations for APA (NASDAQ:APA) Stock Price

APA (NASDAQ:APA) had its price target trimmed by The Goldman Sachs Group from $25.00 to $22.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sell rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on APA. Scotiabank cut their price target on APA from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on APA from $36.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on APA from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Bernstein Bank lowered their price objective on APA from $30.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on APA from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.00.

APA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ APA opened at $23.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $22.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.24. APA has a 1-year low of $20.32 and a 1-year high of $36.04. The company has a market cap of $8.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 3.19.

APA Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. APA’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at APA

In other APA news, Director Juliet S. Ellis purchased 4,391 shares of APA stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $22.78 per share, with a total value of $100,026.98. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 12,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $283,292.08. This represents a 54.58 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of APA

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of APA. Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings 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 valued at $609,414,000 after buying an additional 4,293,932 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $745,341,000 after buying an additional 3,411,270 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 131.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,813,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,704,000 after buying an additional 2,736,041 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 3,450.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 985,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,115,000 after buying an additional 958,141 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of APA by 112.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,448,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,092,000 after buying an additional 767,557 shares during the period. 83.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.