Energy Income Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• Energy Income Partners cut its Archrock stake by 13.5% in the first quarter, selling 217,634 shares and retaining 1.39 million shares worth approximately $48.5 million. Institutional investors collectively own 95.45% of AROC.
• Archrock insiders sold 158,000 shares worth $5.9 million over the past three months, including stock sales by its CFO and a senior vice president.
• Archrock raised its quarterly dividend from $0.22 to $0.23 per share, equivalent to an annualized $0.92 dividend and a 2.6% yield. Analysts remain broadly positive, with a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $41.71.

Energy Income Partners LLC reduced its stake in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,393,885 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 217,634 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC owned approximately 0.80% of Archrock worth $48,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AROC. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its stake in Archrock by 1.7% during the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 18,744 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its stake in Archrock by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 12,000 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Archrock by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,290 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC lifted its position in Archrock by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Severin Investments LLC now owns 20,111 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $523,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its position in Archrock by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 971 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Archrock

In other news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $1,260,270.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 277,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,595,968.26. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 35,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.30, for a total value of $1,340,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 359,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,762,607.10. This represents a 8.88% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 158,000 shares of company stock worth $5,907,370 over the last three months. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Archrock Trading Down 1.4%

AROC stock opened at $35.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Archrock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.17 and a twelve month high of $42.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.84. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $37.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.90.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $373.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $378.36 million. Archrock had a net margin of 21.45% and a return on equity of 22.89%. Archrock's quarterly revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be given a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on AROC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Archrock from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $41.00 price target on shares of Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research lowered Archrock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Archrock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Nine investment 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, Archrock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.71.

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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