Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 21.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 249,774 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,873 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Argan were worth $78,259,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Thames Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Argan by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 51,794 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,228,000 after purchasing an additional 10,411 shares during the period. Bearing Point Capital LLC grew its position in Argan by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Bearing Point Capital LLC now owns 27,020 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,466,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936 shares during the period. Holderness Investments Co. grew its position in Argan by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 1,903 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $596,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Fiducient Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at about $342,000. Finally, SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. purchased a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at about $577,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Argan news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares in the company, valued at $18,847,215.20. This represents a 26.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 4,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.85, for a total value of $2,459,556.60. Following the sale, the director owned 3,636 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,894.60. The trade was a 55.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AGX. Lake Street Capital boosted their price target on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Freedom Capital raised Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Four 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, Argan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX opened at $611.66 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $641.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $472.79. The stock has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a PE ratio of 53.75 and a beta of 0.58. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.82 and a 12 month high of $779.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued 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. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The company had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan’s payout ratio is 17.57%.

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.