Argan (NYSE:AGX) Director Cynthia Flanders Sells 2,596 Shares

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total transaction of $1,729,740.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,421,078.64. The trade was a 10.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Argan Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AGX opened at $690.38 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.82 and a 52-week high of $779.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $650.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.75. The stock has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 60.67 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Argan by 2,950.0% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Argan in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, April 6th. Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

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.