Money Concepts Capital Corp Buys New Stake in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,814 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $882,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Argan by 0.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Argan by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 559,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,084,000 after buying an additional 230,073 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Argan by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 435,761 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $117,677,000 after buying an additional 4,027 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Argan by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 324,356 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,514,000 after buying an additional 5,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Argan by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,582 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $80,632,000 after buying an additional 68,689 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 4,556 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $539.85, for a total value of $2,459,556.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,894.60. This trade represents a 55.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total value of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,320 shares in the company, valued at $18,847,215.20. This trade represents a 26.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. Corporate insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Lake Street Capital increased their price target on Argan from $325.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Argan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $425.40.

Argan Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of AGX opened at $720.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.93 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $563.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $426.94. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $176.97 and a twelve month high of $742.30.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. The business had revenue of $262.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.32 million. Argan had a return on equity of 33.62% and a net margin of 14.59%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.53%.

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.