Arlington Capital Management Inc. Invests $438,000 in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Arlington Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 805 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Argan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $259,267,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Argan by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 599,149 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $187,725,000 after acquiring an additional 39,683 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $137,503,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 400,379 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $125,462,000 after acquiring an additional 80,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 1.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 324,356 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,514,000 after acquiring an additional 5,575 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Lake Street Capital raised their price target 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE:AGX traded down $56.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $631.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 308,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,320. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $691.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $530.98. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.90 and a twelve month high of $805.75. The stock has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.48 and a beta of 0.57.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 17.57%.

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

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total transaction of $3,350,497.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total value of $11,626,744.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,104,295.78. This trade represents a 27.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 179,663 shares of company stock valued at $119,410,408 over the last 90 days. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.