Maverick Capital Ltd. Purchases 25,901 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares during the quarter. Argan comprises approximately 2.9% of Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Maverick Capital Ltd.’s holdings in Argan were worth $253,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its position in Argan by 2,950.0% during 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 in the last quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX stock opened at $540.24 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $666.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $552.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.47 and a beta of 0.57. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $197.00 and a 12 month high of $805.75.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The business had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Argan’s payout ratio is currently 17.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,550.70. This represents a 33.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was 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 owned 6,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,512. This trade represents a 40.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 125,607 shares of company stock worth $86,347,388 over the last 90 days. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

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.