Archrock (NYSE:AROC) CFO Doug Aron Sells 71,500 Shares of Stock

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) CFO Doug Aron sold 71,500 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.61, for a total value of $2,546,115.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 582,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,738,801.07. This trade represents a 10.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Archrock Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of AROC stock opened at $34.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.91. Archrock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.12 and a 1-year high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.09.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its earnings results 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. Archrock had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The business had revenue of $377.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $378.04 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued a $0.22 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AROC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Archrock from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Archrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Archrock from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Archrock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its position in Archrock by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Archrock by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,290 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Archrock by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 20,111 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $523,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Archrock by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 971 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Archrock by 3.0% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 15,030 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.