Jag Capital Management LLC Takes $291,000 Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Jag Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 930 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $291,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $170,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $1,473,000. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $769,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $1,567,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $882,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In related news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $619.88, for a total transaction of $495,904.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 500 shares in the company, valued at $309,940. This represents a 61.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total transaction of $6,879,979.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,847,215.20. This trade represents a 26.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Argan Stock Down 3.9%

AGX stock opened at $638.60 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $583.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $438.08. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.35 and a 52-week high of $748.50. The firm has a market cap of $8.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.57 and a beta of 0.61.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. Argan had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 33.62%. The business had revenue of $262.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Lake Street Capital upped their price target on shares of Argan from $325.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $425.40.

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.