Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,750,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the May 31st total of 5,240,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on AROC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Archrock from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Archrock from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Archrock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. USA Financial Formulas boosted its position in shares of Archrock by 4,483.8% during the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,696 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 1,659 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Archrock during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Archrock by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 5,946 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $117,000 after acquiring an additional 2,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Archrock in the first quarter worth $133,000. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Archrock Price Performance

Shares of Archrock stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $20.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 864,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,397,516. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.53. Archrock has a one year low of $9.57 and a one year high of $21.60.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The energy company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $268.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $260.51 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 12.54%. Archrock’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Archrock will post 1.07 EPS for the current year.

Archrock Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.52%.

Archrock Company Profile

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.