Verition Fund Management LLC Invests $314,000 in Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)

Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,508 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $314,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. purchased a new stake in Archrock during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Archrock in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Archrock in the second quarter worth about $52,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Archrock by 382.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,591 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 2,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Archrock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on AROC. Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Archrock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $24.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Archrock in a report on Friday, September 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI began coverage on Archrock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $24.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Archrock from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.17.

Archrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AROC opened at $26.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.08. The company has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.57 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Archrock, Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.39 and a twelve month high of $27.05.

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

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were paid a $0.175 dividend. This is a positive change from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.92%.

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.