Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 26,538 Shares of Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,256,953 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 26,538 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Archrock were worth $32,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $312,000 after buying an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,290 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 20,111 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $523,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 971 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 3.0% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 15,030 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $395,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Archrock Stock Performance

Archrock stock opened at $35.11 on Wednesday. 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 50-day moving average of $36.23 and a 200-day moving average of $31.89. The firm has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.87. Archrock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.17 and a 1-year high of $40.12.

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

Archrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.83%.

Insider Transactions at Archrock

In other Archrock news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total value of $1,260,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 277,454 shares in the company, valued at $10,595,968.26. This trade represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.30, for a total transaction of $1,340,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 359,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,762,607.10. This trade 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 quarter, insiders have sold 327,550 shares of company stock valued at $11,861,703. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AROC shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on Archrock from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $41.00 price objective on Archrock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Dawson James reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.14.

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.