Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.1429.

AROC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Archrock from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Dawson James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th.

Archrock Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of AROC opened at $35.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Archrock has a one year low of $20.12 and a one year high of $37.72. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.84.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.29. Archrock had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 21.63%.The firm had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $378.04 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Archrock will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Archrock’s payout ratio is currently 48.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In related news, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Archrock by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,080,037 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $225,457,000 after buying an additional 128,141 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Archrock by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,018,889 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $182,631,000 after acquiring an additional 152,312 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Archrock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,833,290 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $177,805,000 after acquiring an additional 111,218 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Archrock by 3.3% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,077,999 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $159,912,000 after acquiring an additional 191,914 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Archrock by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,499,093 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $144,681,000 after acquiring an additional 187,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

About Archrock

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.