Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,685,080 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 308,246 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Archrock were worth $43,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,144,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,904,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Archrock in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $19,603,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,721,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Archrock in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $16,027,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Archrock

In related news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $1,260,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 277,454 shares in the company, valued at $10,595,968.26. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.30, for a total value of $1,340,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 359,337 shares in the company, valued at $13,762,607.10. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 327,550 shares of company stock worth $11,861,703. Corporate insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Stock Performance

AROC stock opened at $34.24 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.87. Archrock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.17 and a 12-month high of $40.12. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.57.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $373.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.36 million. Archrock had a net margin of 21.45% and a return on equity of 22.89%. Archrock’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Archrock from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research cut Archrock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Dawson James reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Archrock from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archrock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.14.

Archrock 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.