Short Interest in USA Compression Partners LP (NYSE:USAC) Rises By 28.8%

USA Compression Partners LP (NYSE:USAC - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,550,000 shares, a growth of 28.8% from the March 15th total of 1,980,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 421,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.0 days. Approximately 3.9% of the company's shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in USA Compression Partners by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,274,451 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $289,186,000 after purchasing an additional 107,058 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of USA Compression Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,905,000. Objectivity Squared LLC boosted its stake in shares of USA Compression Partners by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Objectivity Squared LLC now owns 211,813 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $5,048,000 after acquiring an additional 4,970 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of USA Compression Partners by 28.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 165,887 shares of the oil and gas company's stock worth $3,908,000 after acquiring an additional 37,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in USA Compression Partners by 236.0% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 130,270 shares of the oil and gas company's stock valued at $3,069,000 after purchasing an additional 91,499 shares during the last quarter. 47.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on USA Compression Partners from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of USA Compression Partners from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of USA Compression Partners from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $26.00.

USA Compression Partners Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of USA Compression Partners stock traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $25.55. 23,014 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 350,300. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.97 and a beta of 0.84. USA Compression Partners has a fifty-two week low of $21.06 and a fifty-two week high of $30.10.

USA Compression Partners (NYSE:USAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The oil and gas company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.06). USA Compression Partners had a net margin of 10.48% and a negative return on equity of 62.46%. As a group, analysts expect that USA Compression Partners will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

USA Compression Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.525 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $2.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.22%. This is a boost from USA Compression Partners's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. USA Compression Partners's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 287.67%.

About USA Compression Partners

USA Compression Partners, LP provides compression services under term contracts with customers in the natural gas and crude oil industries in the United States. The company engineers, designs, operates, services, and repairs its compression units; and maintains related support inventory and equipment.