Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Archrock, Inc. has garnered a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from six analysts, with one hold and five buy recommendations; the average price target is $28.40.
• The company reported a 41.6% year-over-year increase in revenue during its last quarterly results, with EPS of $0.39, exceeding analyst expectations.
• Archrock recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.19 to $0.21, reflecting a dividend yield of 3.5%, and approved a share repurchase plan worth $50 million.

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.40.

Several research firms recently issued reports on AROC. Sidoti upgraded shares of Archrock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 224,809 shares in the company, valued at $5,292,003.86. This trade represents a 4.26% 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AROC. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Archrock by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 13,074,904 shares of the energy company's stock worth $325,434,000 after acquiring an additional 47,563 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Archrock by 1.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,080,037 shares of the energy company's stock worth $225,457,000 after purchasing an additional 128,141 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Archrock by 9.2% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,886,085 shares of the energy company's stock worth $146,152,000 after buying an additional 497,121 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Archrock by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,469 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $100,909,000 after purchasing an additional 42,050 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Archrock by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,292,302 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $60,150,000 after purchasing an additional 334,858 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Archrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AROC opened at $23.77 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $23.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.89. Archrock has a 1 year low of $18.38 and a 1 year high of $30.44. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.81.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $383.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $366.34 million. Archrock had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 18.74%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Archrock will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 5th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the energy company to purchase up to 1.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This is a positive change from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.64%.

Archrock Company Profile

Archrock, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Contract Operations and Aftermarket Services. It engages in the designing, sourcing, owning, installing, operating, servicing, repairing, and maintaining of its owned fleet of natural gas compression equipment to provide natural gas compression services.

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