Argan (NYSE:AGX) Chairman Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $725.85, for a total value of $21,775,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 60,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,259,429.60. The trade was a 32.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX traded down $53.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $736.53. The stock had a trading volume of 437,546 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,993. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $196.90 and a 52 week high of $791.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $663.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $493.23. The company has a market capitalization of $10.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.72 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The company’s quarterly 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Argan during the third quarter valued at $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter valued at about $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,748,000. Alpine Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $16,203,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,574,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

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.