Alkeon Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Alkeon Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,845 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 11,155 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $34,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 541 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $170,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Argan by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,564 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC increased its holdings in Argan by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its holdings in Argan by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGX has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $687.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.43 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $648.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $480.56. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.82 and a 1 year high of $779.00.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 350 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $220,703. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 800 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $619.88, for a total value of $495,904.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,940. This trade represents a 61.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956 over the last three months. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

About Argan

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.