Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.71 Million Position in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System opened a new position in Archrock during the first quarter, buying 77,800 shares valued at about $2.71 million.
• Several other institutions also increased holdings, and 95.45% of Archrock is now owned by institutional investors, though insiders have been selling shares recently.
• Archrock reported mixed quarterly results, missing EPS and revenue expectations, but it also announced a $0.22 quarterly dividend and continues to receive mostly Buy ratings from analysts with an average price target of $41.14.

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 77,800 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $2,707,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Archrock by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 95,866 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $2,514,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Archrock by 217.9% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,316 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Archrock by 482.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,699 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 2,236 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Archrock by 24.6% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 279,100 shares of the energy company's stock worth $6,930,000 after acquiring an additional 55,059 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Archrock by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 9,700 shares of the energy company's stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Archrock news, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 90,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $3,306,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 394,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,487,941.38. The trade was a 18.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $1,260,270.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 277,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,595,968.26. The trade was a 10.63% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 158,000 shares of company stock worth $5,907,370 in the last quarter. 2.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Archrock Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AROC opened at $41.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.87. The firm's 50-day moving average is $36.82 and its 200 day moving average is $33.12. Archrock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.17 and a 12 month high of $42.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

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

Archrock Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Archrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.83%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AROC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $41.00 target price on Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Archrock from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Archrock from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.14.

Archrock Profile

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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