Neuberger Berman Group LLC Makes New Investment in Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• Neuberger Berman Group LLC has taken a new position in Archrock, Inc. by purchasing 14,715 shares valued at approximately $386,000 during the first quarter.
• Archrock recently announced a $50 million stock repurchase program and increased its quarterly dividend to $0.21 per share, signaling confidence in the company's value.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.39, exceeding expectations, with revenues up 41.6% year-over-year, amounting to $383.15 million.

Neuberger Berman Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 14,715 shares of the energy company's stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AROC. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Archrock in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,092,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 186.0% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,047,346 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $26,068,000 after acquiring an additional 681,160 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 919,982 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $24,140,000 after acquiring an additional 420,757 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,241,032 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $55,779,000 after acquiring an additional 376,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Archrock by 3,224.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 238,732 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $62,640,000 after acquiring an additional 231,551 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In related news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 224,809 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,292,003.86. The trade was a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Archrock Price Performance

AROC traded up $0.4290 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $24.5490. 406,047 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,415,047. Archrock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.38 and a twelve month high of $30.44. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a PEG ratio of 1.25 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.79.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.02. Archrock had a net margin of 17.17% and a return on equity of 18.74%. The business had revenue of $383.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $366.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 41.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, May 5th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to repurchase up to 1.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This is a boost from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Archrock's payout ratio is presently 63.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AROC shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Archrock from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Sidoti upgraded Archrock to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Archrock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.40.

Archrock 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.