784 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Acquired by Evolve Private Wealth LLC

Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 784 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $427,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter worth about $28,360,000. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in Argan in the 1st quarter valued at $343,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in Argan by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,085 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $340,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,159,379.68. This trade represents a 32.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Karen Sweeney sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,091,340. The trade was a 16.23% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 186,800 shares of company stock worth $123,296,561. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $764.06 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $674.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $503.48. The company has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.14 and a beta of 0.58. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.90 and a fifty-two week high of $791.38.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm 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 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital upped their price target on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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 raised Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Argan 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.