Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $36.45 and last traded at $36.0590, with a volume of 274493 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.33.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Archrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Dawson James restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $35.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Archrock by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,719,020 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $226,869,000 after buying an additional 457,569 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Archrock by 246.2% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 104,716 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $2,725,000 after purchasing an additional 74,471 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Archrock by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 18,519 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 3,122 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 9,206 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Archrock by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,990 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Trading Up 1.9%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

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

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This is an increase from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Archrock’s payout ratio is 48.09%.

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.