Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Hits New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Archrock hit a new 52-week high — the stock traded as high as $37.77 (last at $37.28) on Monday with about 125,501 shares changing hands.
• Analysts remain broadly positive: nine Buy ratings and two Holds produce a consensus "Moderate Buy" and a $39.00 average price target, with several firms recently lifting targets to the $38–$40 range.
• Fundamentals show momentum but mixed signals: Q4 EPS beat expectations ($0.69 vs. $0.40) and revenue rose 15.5% YoY with a raised quarterly dividend of $0.22 (2.4% yield), while insiders have been net sellers and institutional ownership is 95.45%.

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $37.77 and last traded at $37.2820, with a volume of 125501 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AROC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Archrock from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Archrock from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Archrock Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.91.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The energy company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.29. Archrock had a net margin of 21.63% and a return on equity of 23.57%. The business had revenue of $377.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $378.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.34 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 10th. Archrock's payout ratio is presently 48.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In other news, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 98,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.76, for a total transaction of $3,408,218.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 484,337 shares in the company, valued at $16,835,554.12. This trade represents a 16.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $382,573.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,757 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,019,792.18. This represents a 27.28% 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 179,963 shares of company stock valued at $6,336,907. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at $61,144,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its holdings in Archrock by 9,756.7% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,293,002 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $33,644,000 after buying an additional 1,279,884 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Archrock during the fourth quarter valued at $32,904,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock during the 3rd quarter worth about $19,603,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at about $18,721,000. Institutional investors own 95.45% 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.

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