Royce & Associates LP Raises Stake in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 275,391 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 24,170 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Archrock were worth $7,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 971 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Archrock in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Archrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Archrock by 217.9% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,316 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Archrock by 234.9% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,410 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In other news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $1,260,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 277,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,595,968.26. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $382,573.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 337,963 shares of company stock worth $12,244,277 in the last 90 days. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Archrock Trading Down 5.0%

NYSE AROC opened at $34.56 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.31. Archrock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.17 and a 52 week high of $40.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.94.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.05). Archrock had a return on equity of 22.89% and a net margin of 21.45%.The firm had revenue of $373.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.36 million. Archrock’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AROC shares. Dawson James restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Archrock from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Archrock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.86.

Archrock Company Profile

Archrock, Inc is a Houston‐based provider of natural gas compression services and equipment to the oil and gas industry in North America. Founded in 2004, the company supplies both short‐term rentals and long‐term contracts for compression solutions, serving upstream and midstream producers. Archrock’s offerings include engineered compression systems, aftermarket parts, maintenance and field services designed to optimize wellhead and pipeline operations.

The company’s core business activities focus on the design, manufacture, rental and sale of gas compression equipment.