BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Acquires New Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,182 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,937,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Argan by 69.8% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 559,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,084,000 after acquiring an additional 230,073 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Argan by 168.9% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,862,000 after acquiring an additional 159,149 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Argan by 172.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,687,000 after acquiring an additional 145,516 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,629,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,647,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:AGX opened at $611.66 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $641.33 and a 200 day moving average of $472.79. The firm 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 52 week low of $193.82 and a 52 week high of $779.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $290.95 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGX. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned 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 target price of $470.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total transaction of $6,879,979.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,847,215.20. The trade was a 26.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 4,556 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.85, for a total transaction of $2,459,556.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,636 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,962,894.60. The trade was a 55.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. 6.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.