Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Sells 4,638 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,611 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,638 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $7,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other news, Director Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $630.58, for a total transaction of $220,703.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 350 shares in the company, valued at $220,703. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total value of $1,885,080.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,302,380.92. The trade was a 30.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956 over the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX opened at $642.73 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $645.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $478.34. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.82 and a 52-week high of $779.00. The company has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.48 and a beta of 0.59.

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

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

Argan announced that its board has authorized a share 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 typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.