Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,663,665 shares of the energy company’s stock after selling 504,830 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Archrock worth $517,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Archrock by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 264,991 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $6,972,000 after buying an additional 43,872 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 55.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 121,089 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,049,000 after acquiring an additional 43,023 shares in the last quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors increased its holdings in Archrock by 62.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bernzott Capital Advisors now owns 291,534 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $7,670,000 after purchasing an additional 111,908 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC boosted its stake in Archrock by 515.9% in the second quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 91,643 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,275,000 after purchasing an additional 76,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Archrock by 78.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,237,956 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $30,738,000 after acquiring an additional 545,336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of AROC stock opened at $35.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. Archrock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.12 and a 1 year high of $35.29. The stock has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.06.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 24th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $377.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $378.04 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 23.99% and a net margin of 21.63%.The company’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.34 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Archrock’s payout ratio is currently 58.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AROC. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Dawson James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore increased their price target on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Archrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.67.

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.