Axiom Investors LLC DE lessened its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX – Free Report) by 55.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,591 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 44,147 shares during the quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE’s holdings in Argan were worth $11,151,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Argan during the third quarter worth about $971,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,748,000. Finally, Alpine Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth approximately $16,203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 4,556 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.85, for a total value of $2,459,556.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,636 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,894.60. This trade represents a 55.62% 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, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total value of $1,885,080.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,302,380.92. The trade was a 30.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.
Argan Trading Down 1.3%
AGX stock opened at $611.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.75 and a beta of 0.58. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.82 and a twelve month high of $779.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $641.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $472.79.
Argan (NYSE:AGX – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Argan Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.
Argan declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.
Argan Company 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.
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