90,000 Archrock, Inc. $AROC Shares Acquired by Viking Fund Management LLC

Key Points

• Viking Fund Management increased its Archrock stake by 50% in the third quarter, purchasing 90,000 additional shares for a total of 270,000 shares worth approximately $8.18 million.
• Institutional investors own 95.45% of Archrock, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $42.12; ratings include ten Buys and one Sell.
• Archrock reported quarterly earnings and revenue below expectations, with EPS of $0.38 and revenue of $371.24 million, but increased its quarterly dividend to $0.23, representing a 3.1% annualized yield.

Viking Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 50.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 270,000 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 90,000 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Archrock worth $8,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AROC. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in shares of Archrock by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 18,744 shares of the energy company's stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Archrock by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,856 shares of the energy company's stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Archrock in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Archrock by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 9,817 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 823 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Archrock by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 43,193 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,503,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AROC shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Archrock from a "buy (a-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Archrock from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Archrock from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Archrock from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Archrock from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.12.

Archrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AROC opened at $29.78 on Thursday. Archrock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.88 and a 12-month high of $42.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.64 and a 200 day moving average of $34.93.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $371.24 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $393.19 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 22.22% and a net margin of 21.84%. The firm's revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 4th. This is a positive change from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Archrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 49.46%.

About Archrock

Archrock, Inc NYSE: AROC is a Houston-based provider of natural gas compression services and equipment. The company supports the production, gathering, processing, transportation and storage of natural gas by supplying compression infrastructure that helps maintain pressure and move gas through energy systems.

Archrock's principal business is contract compression, in which it owns and operates a fleet of natural gas compressors and provides them to customers under service agreements.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AROC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.