APA Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NASDAQ:APA)

APA Co. (NASDAQ:APA) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 16th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share on Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 22nd.

APA has raised its dividend by an average of 45.5% annually over the last three years. APA has a dividend payout ratio of 23.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect APA to earn $4.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.3%.

APA Stock Down 1.0 %

APA stock traded down $0.25 on Wednesday, hitting $25.00. 550,132 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,226,468. APA has a 12-month low of $22.72 and a 12-month high of $43.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $28.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 3.24.

APA (NASDAQ:APA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. APA had a return on equity of 35.95% and a net margin of 32.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that APA will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on APA. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on APA from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on APA from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Susquehanna reduced their price target on APA from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho reduced their price target on APA from $35.00 to $28.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on APA from $35.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.38.

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.