Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Archrock (NYSE:AROC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on AROC. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Dawson James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Archrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $36.86.

Archrock Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of AROC stock opened at $35.37 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.06 and a 200 day moving average of $26.67. 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 has a 1-year low of $20.12 and a 1-year high of $37.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total transaction of $382,573.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,757 shares in the company, valued at $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Archrock by 0.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in shares of Archrock by 217.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,316 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 902 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 25,266 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $627,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Archrock by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 69,977 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $1,738,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Archrock by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,058,502 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $51,113,000 after acquiring an additional 20,048 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.