Marietta Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Marietta Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 61,900 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,611,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Security Advisor Inc. lifted 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 worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted 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 worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC lifted 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 worth $523,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted 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 worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:AROC opened at $34.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.41. Archrock, Inc. has a one year low of $21.17 and a one year high of $40.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.57. The stock has a market cap of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Archrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Archrock’s payout ratio is 47.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Archrock from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Archrock from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Archrock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 98,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.76, for a total value of $3,408,218.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 484,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,835,554.12. The trade was a 16.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,595,968.26. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 327,550 shares of company stock worth $11,861,703. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

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.