HMS Capital Management LLC Takes $356,000 Position in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• HMS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Archrock, Inc. by purchasing 13,559 shares worth approximately $356,000. This investment highlights the growing interest from institutional investors in the energy sector.
• Archrock recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.21 per share, reflecting a positive outlook and a dividend yield of 3.5%, which suggests confidence in the company's financial health.
• The company's stock has shown significant growth, with a 41.6% increase in quarterly revenue year-over-year, indicating strong performance amidst market fluctuations.

HMS Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,559 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Archrock by 34.4% in the 1st quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 55,528 shares of the energy company's stock worth $1,457,000 after buying an additional 14,200 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Archrock by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,030 shares of the energy company's stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Archrock by 26.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,098 shares of the energy company's stock worth $239,000 after buying an additional 1,917 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Archrock by 53.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 27,402 shares of the energy company's stock worth $725,000 after buying an additional 9,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 1st quarter worth about $522,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on AROC shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sidoti upgraded shares of 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 224,809 shares in the company, valued at $5,292,003.86. This represents a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Archrock Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE:AROC traded up $0.2550 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.2150. The stock had a trading volume of 1,816,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,590,557. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 1.30 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 current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $383.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $366.34 million. Archrock had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 18.74%. The firm's revenue was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid 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 was Tuesday, August 5th. Archrock's payout ratio is currently 63.64%.

Archrock declared that its board has approved a stock 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 buy up to 1.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is 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.