Temasek Holdings Private Ltd Makes New $16.03 Million Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Temasek Holdings Private Ltd acquired a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 29,436 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,032,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter worth $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in Argan by 2,950.0% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Argan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total value of $3,350,497.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,880 shares in the company, valued at $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total value of $32,173,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at $58,539,416.96. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 134,105 shares of company stock valued at $91,724,081 in the last quarter. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $603.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.06 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $676.69 and its 200 day moving average is $545.45. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.90 and a fifty-two week high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.