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

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.40.

A number of analysts have recently commented on AROC shares. Sidoti upgraded Archrock to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 224,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,292,003.86. This represents a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AROC. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Archrock by 1.5% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 157,333 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,906,000 after acquiring an additional 2,310 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Archrock by 294.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 20,096 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 14,996 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archrock in the second quarter worth $703,000. Sandler Capital Management increased its position in shares of Archrock by 10.9% in the second quarter. Sandler Capital Management now owns 73,641 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,829,000 after acquiring an additional 7,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc increased its position in shares of Archrock by 81.7% in the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 105,821 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,628,000 after acquiring an additional 47,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Price Performance

AROC stock opened at $23.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50-day moving average is $23.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.89. Archrock has a 1 year low of $18.38 and a 1 year high of $30.44.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $383.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $366.34 million. Archrock had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 18.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Archrock will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Archrock’s payout ratio is currently 63.64%.

Archrock declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, May 5th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to reacquire up to 1.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.