Argan (NYSE:AGX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AGX. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Lake Street Capital raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of AGX opened at $417.52 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $565.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $584.75. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57. Argan has a 12-month low of $197.00 and a 12-month high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The construction company reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $1.12. The firm had revenue of $383.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.53 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.09% and a return on equity of 38.51%. Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 61.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Argan will post 13.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.82%.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total value of $1,398,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 4,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,411,120. The trade was a 29.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 40,976 shares in the company, valued at $31,159,379.68. The trade was a 32.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Argan by 77,552.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 12,498,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,981,001,000 after buying an additional 12,482,809 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,764,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $259,267,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Argan by 32.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $431,010,000 after acquiring an additional 192,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Argan by 2.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $332,726,000 after acquiring an additional 12,300 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.