Northern Trust Corp Raises Position in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC - Free Report) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,241,032 shares of the energy company's stock after acquiring an additional 376,564 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.28% of Archrock worth $55,779,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Archrock by 124.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 302,610 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $6,125,000 after buying an additional 167,648 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Archrock by 5.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 94,756 shares of the energy company's stock worth $2,020,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 24.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 853,295 shares of the energy company's stock valued at $17,271,000 after buying an additional 167,510 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Archrock by 94.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 422,383 shares of the energy company's stock worth $8,549,000 after buying an additional 205,241 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Archrock by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,181 shares of the energy company's stock worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930 shares during the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AROC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Sidoti upgraded Archrock to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $26.67.

Archrock Price Performance

AROC stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $24.70. The stock had a trading volume of 805,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,466,885. Archrock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.27 and a twelve month high of $30.44. The company's 50-day moving average price is $24.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.19.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last released 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 net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 16.24%. The company had revenue of $347.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $342.98 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Archrock's dividend payout ratio is presently 64.41%.

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

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.