Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Trims Stock Holdings in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its position in Archrock, Inc. by 19.9% in the first quarter, now owning 7,209,448 shares valued at approximately $189.2 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.21 per share, reflecting a boost from the previous $0.19, with an annualized yield of 3.5%.
• Archrock's quarterly earnings report showed a calculated EPS of $0.39, exceeding analysts’ expectations and signifying a 41.6% year-over-year revenue increase.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 19.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,209,448 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 1,793,684 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 4.08% of Archrock worth $189,175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Archrock by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 13,074,904 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $325,434,000 after buying an additional 47,563 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Archrock by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,951,896 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $234,898,000 after acquiring an additional 67,947 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Archrock by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,241,032 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $55,779,000 after acquiring an additional 376,564 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Archrock by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,957,444 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $48,721,000 after acquiring an additional 75,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Archrock by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP now owns 1,647,222 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $43,223,000 after acquiring an additional 32,958 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AROC shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on 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 Archrock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archrock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Archrock news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 224,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,292,003.86. The trade was a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Archrock Trading Up 1.0%

AROC stock traded up $0.2550 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $25.2150. The company had a trading volume of 1,816,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,617,377. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. Archrock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.38 and a 52 week high of $30.44. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $23.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.69. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.10.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. Archrock had a return on equity of 18.74% and a net margin of 17.17%.The firm had revenue of $383.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $366.34 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. This is an increase from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.64%.

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

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.