Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 15,192 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,760,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Argan in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total transaction of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,847,215.20. This trade represents a 26.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total transaction of $1,885,080.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,302,380.92. The trade was a 30.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AGX. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. 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 report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX stock opened at $687.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of 60.43 and a beta of 0.59. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $193.82 and a one year high of $779.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $648.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $480.56.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be paid 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 is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.57%.

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.