Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 112,002 Shares of Archrock, Inc. $AROC

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) by 138.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 192,835 shares of the energy company’s stock after acquiring an additional 112,002 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 0.11% of Archrock worth $7,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Archrock by 15,293.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 138,388 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $3,601,000 after buying an additional 137,489 shares in the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Archrock in the 4th quarter valued at $1,611,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Archrock in the second quarter valued at $1,217,511,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in Archrock by 22.4% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,685,080 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $43,846,000 after acquiring an additional 308,246 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its stake in Archrock by 85.8% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 225,040 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $9,161,000 after acquiring an additional 103,890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Archrock Stock Performance

Shares of Archrock stock opened at $31.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.79. Archrock, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.88 and a fifty-two week high of $42.23. The firm has a market cap of $5.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.86.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The energy company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $371.24 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $393.19 million. Archrock had a return on equity of 22.22% and a net margin of 21.84%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Archrock, Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. This is a boost from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 4th. Archrock’s payout ratio is currently 49.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AROC. Stifel Nicolaus set a $41.00 price objective on Archrock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Archrock from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Archrock from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Evercore set a $40.00 price target on shares of Archrock in a report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Archrock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.29.

Archrock Profile

Archrock, Inc is a Houston?based provider of natural gas compression services and equipment to the oil and gas industry in North America. Founded in 2004, the company supplies both short?term rentals and long?term contracts for compression solutions, serving upstream and midstream producers. Archrock’s offerings include engineered compression systems, aftermarket parts, maintenance and field services designed to optimize wellhead and pipeline operations.

The company’s core business activities focus on the design, manufacture, rental and sale of gas compression equipment.