Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Has $7.86 Million Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,843 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 15,005 shares during the period. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $7,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 12.2% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 117,805 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $15,452,000 after acquiring an additional 12,854 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Argan by 118.3% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,316 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 2,881 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Argan by 13.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 35,567 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,665,000 after purchasing an additional 4,196 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Argan by 37.3% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 8,985 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the second quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research cut Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $419.92 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $606.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $582.92. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $197.00 and a fifty-two week high of $805.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.90 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total transaction of $32,173,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,539,416.96. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total value of $6,507,641.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,052,056.10. This represents a 19.99% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

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.