William Griffin, Jr. Sells 20,000 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 40,976 shares in the company, valued at $31,159,379.68. This trade represents a 32.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Argan Stock Down 0.9%

AGX stock opened at $730.23 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $668.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $498.57. The company has a market capitalization of $10.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.17 and a beta of 0.58. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.90 and a fifty-two week high of $791.38.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.60 EPS. Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.57%.

Argan declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Argan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. TD Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $2,748,000. Alpine Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at $16,203,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at $5,574,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital raised Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

About Argan

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.