Deutsche Bank AG Takes Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 69,921 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,835,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Argan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 2,950.0% during the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $77,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Argan Stock Down 2.6%

AGX stock opened at $514.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.20 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $197.00 and a 12-month high of $805.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $636.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $580.18.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total value of $32,173,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,539,416.96. This trade represents a 35.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828. Company 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.