Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,523 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,410,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,764,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Argan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $259,267,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Argan by 32.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $431,010,000 after acquiring an additional 192,204 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted 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 valued at $332,726,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Argan by 5.9% during the first 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chairman directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director owned 2,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,468,228.12. This represents a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $419.92 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $606.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $582.92. The company has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $197.00 and a one year high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. Argan’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 raised Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.