Archrock, Inc. $AROC Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 17.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,862 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 22,494 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Archrock worth $2,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AROC. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Archrock by 164.8% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 964 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Archrock by 119.6% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 1,599 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Archrock by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 3,474 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Archrock Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Archrock stock opened at $25.2150 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.87 and a 200-day moving average of $24.74. 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 capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.10. Archrock, Inc. 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. The company 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 company’s revenue was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. Archrock’s payout ratio is 63.64%.

Insider Activity at Archrock

In other news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sidoti upgraded Archrock to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Archrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.40.

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.