Public Sector Pension Investment Board Increases Stock Holdings in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Archrock, Inc. by 27.3% in the first quarter, holding a total of 555,458 shares valued at approximately $14.58 million.
• Archrock reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.39, exceeding analysts' expectations, and demonstrated a revenue increase of 41.6% year-over-year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.19 to $0.21, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.5% and reflects a 63.64% payout ratio.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 27.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 555,458 shares of the energy company's stock after buying an additional 118,996 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.32% of Archrock worth $14,575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Archrock by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 38,161 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Archrock by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 17,459 shares of the energy company's stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Archrock by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,761 shares of the energy company's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Archrock by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 10,133 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 575 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Archrock by 164.8% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 964 shares of the energy company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AROC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price 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 research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archrock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.40.

Archrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AROC traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $23.77. 1,313,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,423,770. The company has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.81. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $23.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.92. Archrock, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.38 and a 1-year high of $30.44.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The energy company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.02. Archrock had a return on equity of 18.74% and a net margin of 17.17%. The company had revenue of $383.15 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $366.34 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. This is a positive change from Archrock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. Archrock's payout ratio is presently 63.64%.

Archrock announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, May 5th that permits the company to repurchase $50.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the energy company to buy up to 1.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In other Archrock news, SVP Eric W. Thode sold 10,000 shares of Archrock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.54, for a total value of $235,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 224,809 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,292,003.86. The trade was a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

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.