805 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Bought by Arlington Capital Management Inc.

Arlington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 805 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 2,950.0% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total transaction of $1,329,818.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,297,536.75. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total value of $1,398,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,411,120. This trade represents a 29.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,663 shares of company stock worth $119,410,408. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on AGX. Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, 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 report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Argan Stock Down 8.2%

Shares of Argan stock traded down $56.07 on Friday, hitting $631.42. 308,328 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 317,320. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.90 and a 52-week high of $805.75. The stock has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.48 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $691.09 and its 200 day moving average is $530.98.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The business’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Argan Profile

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.