Fifth Third Bancorp Makes New Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 5,501 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,996,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the first quarter worth $248,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Argan by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 862 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $470,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter worth about $1,728,000. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Quantum Portfolio Management LLC now owns 7,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,066,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cvfg LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter valued at about $10,975,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AGX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX opened at $602.60 on Tuesday. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.90 and a 52 week high of $805.75. The firm has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.95 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $678.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $543.41.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.

Argan declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Director Karen Sweeney sold 300 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,340. This trade represents a 16.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,084,550.70. This represents a 33.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 134,105 shares of company stock worth $91,724,081 in the last three months. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

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.