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

Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,240,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the May 15th total of 4,970,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,450,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AROC has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Archrock from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Archrock from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Archrock from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Archrock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.67.

Archrock Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AROC opened at $19.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.57. Archrock has a fifty-two week low of $9.57 and a fifty-two week high of $21.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.71 and a 200-day moving average of $17.92.

Archrock (NYSE:AROC) last announced 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. Archrock had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $268.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $260.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Archrock will post 1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Archrock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 6th. Archrock’s payout ratio is 79.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archrock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AROC. Blackstone Inc. grew its position in Archrock by 4,211.9% during the fourth quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 5,903,142 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $90,908,000 after buying an additional 5,766,237 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Archrock by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,113,865 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $78,753,000 after buying an additional 1,399,309 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Archrock during the first quarter worth about $24,875,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Archrock during the fourth quarter worth about $15,958,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Archrock by 4.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,321,555 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $360,385,000 after buying an additional 849,750 shares in the last quarter. 95.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.