Wells Fargo & Company Initiates Coverage on Archrock (NYSE:AROC)

Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Archrock (NYSE:AROC) in a report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $30.00 price objective on the energy company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sidoti raised shares of Archrock to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Archrock Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of AROC stock opened at $25.27 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.52. Archrock has a 1-year low of $18.38 and a 1-year high of $30.44.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $366.34 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 18.74% and a net margin of 17.17%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Archrock will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 224,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,292,003.86. This represents a 4.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Archrock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in Archrock by 34.4% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 55,528 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 14,200 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Archrock by 13.2% during the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,030 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Archrock by 26.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,098 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Archrock by 53.9% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 27,402 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 9,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock during the first quarter worth about $522,000. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.