Clearbridge Investments LLC Buys Shares of 692,924 Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC)

Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archrock, Inc. (NYSE:AROC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 692,924 shares of the energy company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,247,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Archrock during the fourth quarter worth $36,241,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Archrock by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,836,745 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $138,376,000 after purchasing an additional 707,379 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Archrock by 135.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 993,063 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $24,717,000 after buying an additional 570,680 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Archrock in the fourth quarter valued at about $13,383,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Archrock by 16.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,794,981 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $76,826,000 after buying an additional 523,825 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Archrock from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Archrock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.67.

Archrock Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of AROC opened at $27.17 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26. Archrock, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.27 and a 1 year high of $30.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.56.

Archrock Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 12th. This is a boost from Archrock’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Archrock’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.08%.

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.