Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Sells 1,057 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC reduced its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 26.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,889 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $905,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $14,138,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $971,000. TD Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $478,000. Finally, Alpine Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $16,203,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGX has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, April 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $425.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 49,998 shares in the company, valued at $30,104,295.78. This represents a 27.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total value of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,847,215.20. This represents a 26.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956. 6.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Argan Stock Down 1.5%

AGX opened at $629.89 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $184.35 and a 52-week high of $748.50. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.67 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $586.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $440.41.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $262.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $255.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Announces Dividend

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

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

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.