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

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,310,000 shares, a growth of 15.7% from the March 31st total of 4,590,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days. Currently, 4.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Archrock Stock Performance

NYSE:AROC opened at $19.19 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.30 and its 200 day moving average is $16.41. Archrock has a fifty-two week low of $8.78 and a fifty-two week high of $21.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The energy company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.51 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Archrock’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Archrock will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Archrock’s payout ratio is 98.51%.

Institutional Trading of Archrock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AROC. USA Financial Formulas increased its stake in Archrock by 4,483.8% in the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,696 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,659 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Archrock in the first quarter worth $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Archrock in the fourth quarter worth $51,000. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Archrock in the third quarter worth $135,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of Archrock during the 3rd quarter worth $153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

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.