First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 39.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 292,685 shares of the energy company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,897 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Archrock were worth $10,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its stake in Archrock by 71.0% in the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 971 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Archrock by 217.9% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,316 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 902 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Archrock news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total transaction of $3,306,600.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 394,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,487,941.38. This represents a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 158,000 shares of company stock worth $5,907,370. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on AROC shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Archrock from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Archrock from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Archrock from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Archrock from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Archrock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.71.

Archrock Stock Performance

Archrock stock opened at $35.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.92 and its 200-day moving average is $35.10. The company has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Archrock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.17 and a 12 month high of $42.23.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.05). Archrock had a net margin of 21.45% and a return on equity of 22.89%. The firm had revenue of $373.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.36 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.83%.

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.