Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Archrock (NYSE:AROC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup upped their target price on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Archrock from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Archrock Price Performance

NYSE AROC opened at $36.29 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.91. Archrock has a 1 year low of $21.17 and a 1 year high of $37.72.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $377.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $378.04 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 23.57% and a net margin of 21.63%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Archrock will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In other Archrock news, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total transaction of $382,573.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,757 shares in the company, valued at $1,019,792.18. This represents a 27.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 98,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.76, for a total value of $3,408,218.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 484,337 shares in the company, valued at $16,835,554.12. The trade was a 16.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 179,963 shares of company stock valued at $6,336,907 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Archrock by 3.3% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,077,999 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $159,912,000 after purchasing an additional 191,914 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Archrock by 19.8% during the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 264,991 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $6,972,000 after purchasing an additional 43,872 shares during the period. Bernzott Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Archrock by 62.3% during the third quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors now owns 291,534 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $7,670,000 after purchasing an additional 111,908 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Archrock by 3.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,722,072 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $176,858,000 after purchasing an additional 207,978 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Archrock during the third quarter worth about $1,657,000. 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.