Archrock, Inc. $AROC Stock Position Trimmed by HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC significantly reduced its stake in Archrock, Inc. by 80.4%, selling 538,803 shares to hold only 131,626 shares, worth $3.45 million.
• Archrock recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.21 per share, up from $0.19, representing an annualized yield of 3.5%.
• The company beat earnings expectations, reporting $0.39 EPS for the quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.02, alongside a 41.6% year-over-year revenue growth.

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 80.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,626 shares of the energy company's stock after selling 538,803 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Archrock worth $3,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Archrock during the 1st quarter valued at $5,533,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Archrock in the first quarter valued at $12,359,000. Algert Global LLC grew its position in Archrock by 12.9% during the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 576,570 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $15,129,000 after acquiring an additional 65,695 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV purchased a new stake in Archrock during the first quarter valued at about $417,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Archrock by 9.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,388,964 shares of the energy company's stock worth $141,406,000 after acquiring an additional 461,940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AROC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sidoti raised Archrock to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Archrock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.40.

Archrock Stock Up 1.0%

AROC traded up $0.2550 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.2150. 1,816,279 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,590,557. Archrock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.38 and a fifty-two week high of $30.44. The company has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.81 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $23.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.74.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $383.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a $0.21 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 63.64%.

Archrock declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, May 5th that authorizes the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to reacquire up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Archrock

In other Archrock news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.