Man Group plc Raises Stock Position in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)

Man Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 7.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 274,846 shares of the energy company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,772 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned about 0.16% of Archrock worth $6,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Archrock by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 38,313 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $954,000 after purchasing an additional 5,665 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Archrock by 124.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 302,610 shares of the energy company's stock worth $6,125,000 after purchasing an additional 167,648 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $242,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Archrock by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,358,092 shares of the energy company's stock worth $58,693,000 after acquiring an additional 34,272 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Archrock by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 916,945 shares of the energy company's stock worth $22,823,000 after purchasing an additional 63,650 shares during the period. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Archrock news, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 42,036 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.49, for a total transaction of $1,029,461.64. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 275,911 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,757,060.39. This trade represents a 13.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Archrock Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE AROC traded up $0.32 on Friday, hitting $24.80. 931,342 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,437,244. Archrock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.27 and a 12 month high of $30.44. The company has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.52 and a 200-day moving average of $25.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.03. Archrock had a return on equity of 16.24% and a net margin of 13.34%. The firm had revenue of $347.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $342.98 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock declared that its board has authorized 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 purchase up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AROC shares. Sidoti raised Archrock to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.67.

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.