Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Short Interest Update

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,070,000 shares, an increase of 9.0% from the November 30th total of 5,570,000 shares. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,260,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Archrock by 124.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 302,610 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $6,125,000 after acquiring an additional 167,648 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the third quarter valued at $314,000. Algert Global LLC increased its stake in Archrock by 175.7% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 567,240 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $11,470,000 after acquiring an additional 361,520 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Archrock in the third quarter valued at $200,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in Archrock by 145.8% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 76,650 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $1,550,000 after acquiring an additional 45,466 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Stock Performance

Shares of AROC stock opened at $24.89 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Archrock has a 1 year low of $14.39 and a 1 year high of $27.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.35 and a beta of 1.59.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 11th. The energy company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $292.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $286.19 million. Archrock had a net margin of 13.34% and a return on equity of 16.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Archrock will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. This is a boost from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AROC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Archrock from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Archrock from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on Archrock in a research note on Friday, September 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.17.

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.