Barclays PLC Cuts Stock Position in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Barclays PLC lessened its position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 797,146 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 68,270 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned about 0.45% of Archrock worth $20,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Archrock by 0.8% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,026 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 3.3% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,247 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 49.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Archrock by 0.9% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 69,977 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,738,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Archrock by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 95,866 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,514,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AROC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Archrock from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Dawson James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $36.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $382,573.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:AROC opened at $35.94 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $30.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.89. Archrock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.12 and a 1 year high of $37.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $378.04 million. Archrock had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Archrock’s payout ratio is currently 48.09%.

About Archrock

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.