Argan (NYSE:AGX) Director Cynthia Flanders Sells 2,596 Shares

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total transaction of $1,729,740.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 23,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,421,078.64. The trade was a 10.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $690.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 382,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,659. The company has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.67 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $648.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $480.56. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.82 and a 52-week high of $779.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The company’s revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.57%.

Argan declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. TD Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,748,000. Alpine Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $16,203,000. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $699,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

About Argan

Argan, Inc (NYSE: AGX) is a holding company that provides professional technical and management services to the power generation and renewable energy industries. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company delivers engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM), commissioning and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a broad range of energy facilities. Argan focuses on projects for utility, industrial and municipally owned clients, helping to bring efficient thermal and renewable energy plants into operation and maintain optimal performance over the asset life cycle.

The company’s principal subsidiaries include Gemma Power Systems, which specializes in turnkey construction of combined-cycle, simple-cycle, cogeneration and renewable energy plants; Atlantic Projects Company, which provides electrical balance-of-plant, control systems, instrumentation and commissioning services; and Infrastructure Solutions, which offers industrial maintenance, outage support and modification services.