Argan (NYSE:AGX) Raised to “Buy” at Lake Street Capital

Argan (NYSE:AGX) was upgraded by Lake Street Capital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $600.00 price objective on the construction company’s stock. Lake Street Capital’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 46.05% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on AGX. Zacks Research lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE:AGX opened at $410.83 on Thursday. Argan has a one year low of $197.00 and a one year high of $805.75. The company has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $586.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $584.62.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The construction company reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $1.12. The company had revenue of $383.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $300.53 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The company’s revenue was up 61.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Argan will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total value of $32,173,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at $58,539,416.96. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total transaction of $3,313,222.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,468,228.12. This trade represents a 69.29% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in Argan during the second quarter worth approximately $997,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Argan by 704.0% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 18,517 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $14,787,000 after acquiring an additional 16,214 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,087,000. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 77,552.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 12,498,905 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,981,001,000 after purchasing an additional 12,482,809 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter worth $257,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Argan Company 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.