Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Purchased by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 51.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 193,808 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,509 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned 1.40% of Argan worth $60,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,748,000. Alpine Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,203,000. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $699,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Stock Up 0.2%

AGX stock opened at $642.73 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.48 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $645.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $478.34. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.82 and a 52 week high of $779.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 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 return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $619.88, for a total transaction of $495,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 500 shares in the company, valued at $309,940. This represents a 61.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $630.58, for a total transaction of $220,703.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,703. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

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.