Bank of America Corp DE Sells 258,950 Shares of Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Bank of America Corp DE cut its position in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,678,879 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 258,950 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Archrock were worth $232,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi grew its holdings in Archrock by 44.0% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 62,854 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after acquiring an additional 19,204 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in Archrock by 29.4% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 202,634 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $7,052,000 after purchasing an additional 46,024 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Archrock by 44.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 158,680 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $5,521,000 after purchasing an additional 48,599 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Archrock during the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Finally, Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Archrock during the 1st quarter worth about $9,638,000. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 277,454 shares of the company’s stock, 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 at the SEC website. Also, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 90,000 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $3,306,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 394,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,487,941.38. This trade represents a 18.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 158,000 shares of company stock worth $5,907,370 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE AROC opened at $35.10 on Tuesday. Archrock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.17 and a 1 year high of $42.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.24.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.05). The company 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.83%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AROC shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $41.00 price target on Archrock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Archrock from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $41.71.

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.