Archrock (NYSE:AROC) CFO Sells $2,546,115.00 in Stock

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) CFO Doug Aron sold 71,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.61, for a total value of $2,546,115.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 582,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,738,801.07. The trade was a 10.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Archrock Stock Performance

Shares of AROC stock opened at $34.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.74 and a 200-day moving average of $28.19. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $20.12 and a one year high of $37.72.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.29. Archrock had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The firm had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $378.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archrock

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Archrock by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,080,037 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $225,457,000 after acquiring an additional 128,141 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Archrock by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,018,889 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $182,631,000 after purchasing an additional 152,312 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Archrock by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,833,290 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $177,805,000 after purchasing an additional 111,218 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Archrock by 3.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,077,999 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $159,912,000 after purchasing an additional 191,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Archrock by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,499,093 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $144,681,000 after buying an additional 187,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Archrock from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research raised Archrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Archrock from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Archrock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

About Archrock

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.