Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $3.38 Million Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,200 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,377,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $259,267,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Argan by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 599,149 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $187,725,000 after acquiring an additional 39,683 shares during the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter worth about $137,503,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Argan by 0.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 435,761 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $117,677,000 after acquiring an additional 4,027 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Argan by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 400,379 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $125,462,000 after acquiring an additional 80,415 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Trading Up 1.5%

AGX opened at $764.06 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $674.70 and its 200-day moving average is $503.48. The stock has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a PE ratio of 67.14 and a beta of 0.58. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.90 and a twelve month high of $791.38.

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. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The firm had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Argan announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AGX. Lake Street Capital increased 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,104,295.78. The trade was a 27.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total transaction of $5,053,649.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,834,342.55. This trade represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 186,800 shares of company stock worth $123,296,561 in the last 90 days. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.