Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires 137,489 Shares of Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Key Points

• Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management dramatically increased its Archrock stake in the fourth quarter, buying 137,489 additional shares and lifting its holdings to 138,388 shares worth about $3.6 million.
• Archrock has drawn broad institutional interest, with several other funds adding positions, and institutions now own about 95.45% of the company.
• Wall Street remains mostly bullish on AROC, with a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $40.86, even as the company recently posted quarterly EPS of $0.42, below expectations.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 15,293.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 138,388 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 137,489 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. owned approximately 0.08% of Archrock worth $3,601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AROC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $61,144,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $19,603,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Archrock in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $16,027,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Archrock by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,009,230 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $52,863,000 after buying an additional 611,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in Archrock by 5,825.5% in the 3rd quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 483,996 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $12,734,000 after buying an additional 475,828 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AROC. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Archrock from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Dawson James reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Archrock in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $41.00 price objective on shares of Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $40.86.

Archrock Stock Up 0.0%

Archrock stock opened at $37.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.41. Archrock, Inc. has a 52-week low of $21.17 and a 52-week high of $40.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.98. The firm has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.94.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $373.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $378.36 million. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Archrock's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 98,050 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.76, for a total value of $3,408,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 484,337 shares in the company, valued at $16,835,554.12. The trade was a 16.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Jason Ingersoll sold 33,000 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 277,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,595,968.26. This represents a 10.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 337,963 shares of company stock worth $12,244,277. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Archrock

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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