John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey Sells 5,716 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey 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 transaction, the director directly owned 2,533 shares in the company, valued at $1,468,228.12. The trade was a 69.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Argan Stock Up 4.3%

NYSE:AGX traded up $25.57 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $618.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 237,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,594. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.00 and a 1 year high of $805.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $656.91 and a 200-day moving average of $560.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a PE ratio of 54.33 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.57%.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AGX. Lake Street Capital boosted their price target on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Argan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

Institutional Trading of Argan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BIP Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $643,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter worth $275,000. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Argan during the second quarter valued at $354,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Argan during the second quarter valued at $3,078,000. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 149.9% in the second quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,337 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

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.