Archrock, Inc. $AROC Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Archrock, Inc. by 17.8% during the first quarter, now owning approximately $2.7 million worth of shares.
• Archrock reported a 41.6% year-over-year increase in revenue, achieving earnings of $0.39 per share for the recent quarter, exceeding expectations.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.21 per share, reflecting a growing confidence in its financial performance.

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its position in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 17.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,862 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 22,494 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Archrock worth $2,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the 1st quarter worth about $43,092,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Archrock by 186.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,047,346 shares of the energy company's stock worth $26,068,000 after purchasing an additional 681,160 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Archrock by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 919,982 shares of the energy company's stock worth $24,140,000 after purchasing an additional 420,757 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Archrock by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,241,032 shares of the energy company's stock worth $55,779,000 after purchasing an additional 376,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Archrock by 3,224.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 238,732 shares of the energy company's stock worth $62,640,000 after purchasing an additional 231,551 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total transaction of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 224,809 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,292,003.86. This represents a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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. Sidoti upgraded shares of Archrock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.40.

Archrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AROC traded up $0.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $24.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,129,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,594,600. The firm's fifty day moving average is $23.84 and its 200 day moving average is $24.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.10. Archrock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.38 and a twelve month high of $30.44. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $383.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $366.34 million. Archrock had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 18.74%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, May 5th that allows the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the energy company to purchase up to 1.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. Archrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.64%.

Archrock 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.