Argan (NYSE:AGX) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

AGX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Lake Street Capital increased their price target on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $469.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.23 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $628.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $581.86. Argan has a fifty-two week low of $197.00 and a fifty-two week high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The firm’s revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Argan will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,159,379.68. The trade was a 32.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total transaction of $1,398,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,411,120. This represents a 29.07% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGX. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in 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 valued at $9,981,001,000 after purchasing an additional 12,482,809 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter worth $1,764,086,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $137,503,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 32.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $431,010,000 after purchasing an additional 192,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Argan during the second quarter valued at approximately $131,878,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

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.