Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 32.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 192,204 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.06% of Argan worth $431,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter worth $137,503,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Argan by 168.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,862,000 after acquiring an additional 159,149 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Argan by 172.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,687,000 after acquiring an additional 145,516 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter valued at $34,647,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Argan by 320.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 153,115 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,349,000 after purchasing an additional 116,657 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total value of $1,398,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,880 shares in the company, valued at $3,411,120. This trade represents a 29.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total transaction of $15,208,600.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,159,379.68. This represents a 32.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 134,105 shares of company stock valued at $91,724,081 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AGX. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. 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 research note on Friday, March 27th. Lake Street Capital raised their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $603.81 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $676.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $545.45. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.90 and a 12-month high of $805.75. The firm has a market cap of $8.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.06 and a beta of 0.57.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

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

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.