Wells Fargo & Company Increases Archrock (NYSE:AROC) Price Target to $43.00

Key Points

• Wells Fargo raised its price target on Archrock to $43.00 (from $40.00) and kept an "overweight" rating, implying roughly a 14.37% upside from the stock's level at the time.
• Shares slid about 3.8% to $37.60 after Archrock reported an EPS miss of $0.42 versus $0.47 expected and slightly below‑forecast revenue; the company has a $6.59B market cap and a P/E of 20.43.
• Analyst sentiment is skewed positive (nine Buys, one Hold) with an average price target of $39.57 ("Moderate Buy"), while insiders have sold ~179,963 shares in the past three months, including the CFO's 98,050‑share sale.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) had its price target boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $40.00 to $43.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the energy company's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential upside of 14.37% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AROC. Mizuho increased their price target on Archrock from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Zacks Research downgraded Archrock from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup increased their price target on Archrock from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Archrock from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $39.57.

Archrock Stock Down 3.8%

Shares of Archrock stock traded down $1.50 on Thursday, hitting $37.60. The company had a trading volume of 410,522 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,595,815. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $36.08 and a 200-day moving average of $29.95. Archrock has a 1 year low of $21.17 and a 1 year high of $40.12.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The energy company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $373.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $378.36 million. Archrock had a net margin of 21.45% and a return on equity of 23.19%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Archrock will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Archrock

In other Archrock news, CFO Doug S. Aron sold 98,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.76, for a total transaction of $3,408,218.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 484,337 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,835,554.12. This represents a 16.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Donna A. Henderson sold 10,413 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.74, for a total value of $382,573.62. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,757 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,019,792.18. This trade represents a 27.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 179,963 shares of company stock valued at $6,336,907. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AROC. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Archrock in the fourth quarter worth $61,144,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Archrock by 9,756.7% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 1,293,002 shares of the energy company's stock worth $33,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,279,884 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Archrock in the fourth quarter worth $32,904,000. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Archrock in the third quarter worth $19,603,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Archrock in the fourth quarter worth $18,721,000. 95.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Archrock Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.