Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.67.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AROC shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Sidoti raised Archrock to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

Archrock Price Performance

Archrock stock opened at $25.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.44 and a 200-day moving average of $25.31. Archrock has a 1 year low of $17.27 and a 1 year high of $30.44.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. Archrock had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 16.24%. The firm had revenue of $347.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $342.98 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Archrock will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. Archrock’s payout ratio is presently 64.41%.

Archrock declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, May 5th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to repurchase up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In other Archrock news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 42,036 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total value of $1,029,461.64. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 275,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,060.39. The trade was a 13.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AROC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Archrock by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,571,800 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $536,922,000 after acquiring an additional 508,214 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Archrock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 13,074,904 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $325,434,000 after purchasing an additional 47,563 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,951,896 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $234,898,000 after buying an additional 67,947 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 9.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,388,964 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $141,406,000 after buying an additional 461,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,354,764 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $133,280,000 after buying an additional 411,286 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.