Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Archrock (NYSE:AROC) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AROC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archrock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.40.

Archrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AROC opened at $30.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.93. Archrock has a 1-year low of $20.12 and a 1-year high of $31.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.56 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Archrock news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 40,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.10, for a total transaction of $1,022,574.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 184,216 shares in the company, valued at $4,623,821.60. This represents a 18.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter worth about $371,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,904,000. Everstar Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Archrock during the 4th quarter worth $546,000. Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its position in Archrock by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new stake in shares of Archrock in the 4th quarter worth $508,000. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Company Profile

Archrock, Inc is a Houston‐based provider of natural gas compression services and equipment to the oil and gas industry in North America. Founded in 2004, the company supplies both short‐term rentals and long‐term contracts for compression solutions, serving upstream and midstream producers. Archrock’s offerings include engineered compression systems, aftermarket parts, maintenance and field services designed to optimize wellhead and pipeline operations.

The company’s core business activities focus on the design, manufacture, rental and sale of gas compression equipment.