Ellsworth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Ellsworth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 202,909 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,312,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AROC. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position 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 worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Archrock by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,026 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Archrock by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,640 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Archrock by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 95,866 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $2,514,000 after buying an additional 667 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in Archrock by 164.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 1,082 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE AROC opened at $34.17 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.87. 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 12 month low of $20.12 and a 12 month high of $37.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.04.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $378.04 million. Archrock had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS. As a group, 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This is an increase from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Archrock’s payout ratio is currently 48.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AROC. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Dawson James reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Archrock from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Archrock news, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total transaction of $382,573.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.