William Griffin Jr Sells 30,000 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $725.85, for a total value of $21,775,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 60,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,259,429.60. This trade represents a 32.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX traded down $53.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $736.53. The company had a trading volume of 437,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,993. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $196.90 and a one year high of $791.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.72 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $663.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $493.23.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Argan by 2.0% in the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Argan by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 541 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 0.6% in the first quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,030 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Argan by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,564 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AGX. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Argan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.