Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $19.19, but opened at $20.39. Archrock shares last traded at $19.48, with a volume of 190,967 shares.

The energy company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.04. Archrock had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $268.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $260.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. Archrock’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. Archrock’s payout ratio is presently 98.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Archrock from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archrock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AROC. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at $1,058,000. Chase Investment Counsel Corp acquired a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at $1,909,000. Blackstone Inc. acquired a new position in Archrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,725,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Archrock by 110.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 971,477 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $12,241,000 after purchasing an additional 509,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in Archrock in the 3rd quarter valued at $620,000. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archrock Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.30 and a 200 day moving average of $16.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.59.

About Archrock

Archrock, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Contract Operations and Aftermarket Services. It engages in the designing, sourcing, owning, installing, operating, servicing, repairing, and maintaining of its owned fleet of natural gas compression equipment to provide natural gas compression services.