Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Short Interest Down 8.1% in August

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,720,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the August 15th total of 4,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,630,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AROC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Archrock from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Archrock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Archrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Archrock Stock Performance

Archrock stock opened at $20.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55 and a beta of 1.51. Archrock has a one year low of $11.73 and a one year high of $23.44. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The energy company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $270.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $270.61 million. Archrock had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 16.35%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Archrock will post 1.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is currently 79.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Archrock by 4.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,321,555 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $360,385,000 after acquiring an additional 849,750 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Archrock by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 14,007,955 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $275,536,000 after purchasing an additional 351,391 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. raised its position in shares of Archrock by 4,211.9% in the 4th quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 5,903,142 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $90,908,000 after purchasing an additional 5,766,237 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Archrock by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,409,863 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $106,412,000 after buying an additional 295,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Archrock by 20.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,958,281 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $80,036,000 after buying an additional 672,663 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Archrock

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.