Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,110,000 shares, a growth of 10.5% from the August 31st total of 3,720,000 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AROC. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Archrock in the first quarter valued at approximately $852,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Archrock by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,113,865 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $78,753,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399,309 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 302.9% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 912,784 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $14,057,000 after buying an additional 686,242 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Archrock by 18.2% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,270,818 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $24,997,000 after buying an additional 195,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Archrock by 77.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 69,992 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,377,000 after buying an additional 30,493 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AROC. Evercore ISI started coverage on Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Archrock from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Archrock in a research report on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Archrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Archrock Stock Performance

AROC traded up $0.44 on Tuesday, reaching $20.68. The stock had a trading volume of 1,350,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,482,854. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $19.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Archrock has a 12-month low of $11.73 and a 12-month high of $23.44. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91 and a beta of 1.51.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The energy company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Archrock had a return on equity of 16.35% and a net margin of 13.20%. The company had revenue of $270.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $270.61 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Archrock will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.19%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.52%.

Archrock Company Profile

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.