VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $5.09 Million in Argan, Inc. $AGX

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,370 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,087,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake 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 buying an additional 12,482,809 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,764,086,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $137,503,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 192,204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Argan in the second quarter worth approximately $131,878,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, Director John Jeffrey, Jr. sold 5,716 shares of the 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 owned 2,533 shares in the company, valued at $1,468,228.12. This represents a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total value of $1,729,740.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,421,078.64. This trade represents a 10.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AGX. Zacks Research cut Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Lake Street Capital raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Argan in a report on Tuesday. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $273.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $437.50.

Argan Trading Up 4.8%

NYSE AGX opened at $437.99 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $202.25 and a 1 year high of $805.75. The company has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a PE ratio of 34.65, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $558.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $584.91.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The construction company reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $1.12. The company had revenue of $383.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.53 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.09% and a return on equity of 38.51%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 61.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.50 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 13.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.