Alpine Global Management LLC Takes Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 912 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Argan by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 541 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in Argan by 26.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 147 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Argan by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,564 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $803,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 1.3% in the third quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $739,000 after buying an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of AGX stock opened at $738.43 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.82 and a fifty-two week high of $779.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $659.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $489.31. The stock has a market cap of $10.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.89 and a beta of 0.58.

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. The company had revenue of $290.95 million for 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%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors 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 payout ratio is 17.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total value of $5,053,649.56. Following the sale, the director owned 41,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,834,342.55. This represents a 16.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total transaction of $32,173,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at $58,539,416.96. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 136,800 shares of company stock worth $86,312,461 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on AGX. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Lake Street Capital increased their price target on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Company 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.