Short Interest in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Drops By 8.1%

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,720,000 shares, a decrease 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 currently 2.3 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Archrock Stock Performance

NYSE:AROC traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $20.40. 1,155,421 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,464,020. Archrock has a twelve month low of $11.73 and a twelve month high of $23.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $20.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.83.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The energy company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. Archrock had a net margin of 13.20% and a return on equity of 16.35%. The company had revenue of $270.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $270.61 million. On average, 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were paid a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is 79.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in Archrock in the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Archrock during the second quarter valued at about $52,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Archrock by 382.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,591 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 2,846 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Archrock by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of Archrock during the 2nd quarter worth about $101,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.