Pacer Advisors Inc. Buys New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 34,666 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,862,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. 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 research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $738.43 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.89 and a beta of 0.59. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.82 and a 1 year high of $779.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $659.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $490.19.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total transaction of $1,329,818.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,297,536.75. This trade represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. This trade represents a 33.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 136,800 shares of company stock worth $86,312,461 over the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.