Ameriprise Financial Inc. Buys 18,467 Shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 524,824 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 18,467 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 0.30% of Archrock worth $13,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of AROC. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Archrock by 124.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 302,610 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $6,125,000 after buying an additional 167,648 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Archrock in the fourth quarter worth about $683,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,091 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archrock during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 61,383 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108 shares during the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 42,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $1,029,461.64. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 275,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,757,060.39. The trade was a 13.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE AROC opened at $25.45 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.46. The stock has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.19. Archrock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.27 and a 12-month high of $30.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $347.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $342.98 million. Archrock had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 16.24%. On average, analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, May 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the energy company to buy up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Archrock Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were given a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AROC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Sidoti upgraded shares of Archrock to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.67.

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.