Castleark Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Castleark Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 5,960 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,759,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter worth $1,764,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Argan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $259,267,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Argan by 32.1% during 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. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 2.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $332,726,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in Argan by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $253,131,000 after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $450.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 39.56 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $197.00 and a 52-week high of $805.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $624.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $582.53.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total value of $3,313,222.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,468,228.12. This trade represents a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total value of $3,350,497.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

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.