American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 461,940 Shares of Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Archrock, Inc. by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, owning approximately 5.39 million shares valued at $141.4 million.
• Archrock reported $0.39 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with a 41.6% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company has initiated a stock buyback plan worth $50 million and recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.19 to $0.21 per share.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,388,964 shares of the energy company's stock after purchasing an additional 461,940 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 3.05% of Archrock worth $141,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archrock in the first quarter valued at $43,092,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 186.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,047,346 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $26,068,000 after buying an additional 681,160 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 420,757 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,241,032 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $55,779,000 after purchasing an additional 376,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 3,224.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 238,732 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $62,640,000 after acquiring an additional 231,551 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 4.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Archrock Price Performance

NYSE AROC traded up $0.3170 during trading on Friday, reaching $25.2770. 528,494 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,416,157. Archrock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.38 and a 1-year high of $30.44. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.10. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $23.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.77. 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 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 business had revenue of $383.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $366.34 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 18.74% and a net margin of 17.17%.Archrock'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 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, May 5th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the energy company to repurchase up to 1.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 63.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AROC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.40.

About Archrock

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.