Scotiabank Has Bullish Estimate for APA FY2024 Earnings

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) – Research analysts at Scotiabank upped their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of APA in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst P. Cheng now anticipates that the company will post earnings of $4.10 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $3.90. Scotiabank has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for APA’s current full-year earnings is $4.01 per share.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on APA. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on APA from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on APA from $39.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of APA from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of APA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $25.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.55.

APA Stock Performance

Shares of APA stock opened at $23.68 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 3.16. APA has a 1 year low of $20.32 and a 1 year high of $36.04. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.73.

APA Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 22nd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. APA’s dividend payout ratio is 14.12%.

Insider Activity at APA

In other news, Director Juliet S. Ellis acquired 4,391 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $22.78 per share, for a total transaction of $100,026.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 12,436 shares in the company, valued at $283,292.08. This represents a 54.58 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of APA

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of APA. Harris Associates L P increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 4,293,932 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in APA by 12.6% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 30,471,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $745,341,000 after purchasing an additional 3,411,270 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in APA by 131.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,813,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $141,704,000 after purchasing an additional 2,736,041 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of APA by 3,450.8% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 985,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,115,000 after purchasing an additional 958,141 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of APA by 112.6% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,448,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,092,000 after purchasing an additional 767,557 shares in the last quarter. 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.