Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Purchased by Carnegie Investment Counsel

Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 28.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,245 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel’s holdings in Argan were worth $2,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,503,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 159,149 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 145,516 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Argan during the third quarter worth $34,647,000. Finally, Divisadero Street Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Argan during the third quarter worth $33,900,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $617.41, for a total value of $3,087,050.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 36,495 shares in the company, valued at $22,532,377.95. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total transaction of $3,350,497.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 171,219 shares of company stock valued at $114,356,759. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

AGX opened at $600.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.80 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $689.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $534.23. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.90 and a 1-year high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm 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 quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

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