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

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) CFO Doug Aron sold 71,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 582,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,738,801.07. This trade represents a 10.93% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Archrock Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE AROC traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $34.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 254,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,646,075. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.87. Archrock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.12 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $378.04 million. Archrock had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 10th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is 48.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Archrock by 0.7% during the first 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 last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of Archrock by 217.9% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,316 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Archrock by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 30,357 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $754,000 after acquiring an additional 2,639 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Archrock by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 24,398 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Archrock by 55.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 121,089 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $3,049,000 after purchasing an additional 43,023 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on AROC. Wall Street Zen cut Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Archrock from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Dawson James restated 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, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Archrock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Archrock Company 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.