Zacks Research Downgrades Argan (NYSE:AGX) to Hold

Argan (NYSE:AGX) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on AGX. Lake Street Capital boosted their price target on shares of Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group set a $315.00 price target on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.00.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX stock traded up $17.63 on Wednesday, hitting $352.73. The stock had a trading volume of 353,848 shares, compared to its average volume of 414,122. Argan has a 12-month low of $101.02 and a 12-month high of $365.09. The stock has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.39 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $277.98 and a 200 day moving average of $233.82.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.51. Argan had a net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. The firm had revenue of $237.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Activity at Argan

In related news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.09, for a total value of $2,920,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 21,006 shares in the company, valued at $6,135,642.54. The trade was a 32.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James W. Quinn sold 13,444 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total transaction of $3,618,049.28. Following the transaction, the director owned 49,570 shares in the company, valued at $13,340,278.40. The trade was a 21.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 106,795 shares of company stock worth $29,401,111 in the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AGX. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new position in Argan during the first quarter valued at approximately $667,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Argan by 810.0% during the first quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 69,184 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $9,075,000 after purchasing an additional 61,581 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Argan during the first quarter worth about $551,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Argan in the 1st quarter valued at about $11,307,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Argan during the 1st quarter valued at about $536,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

About Argan

Argan, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, and technical consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Services, Industrial Services, and Telecom Services segments. The Power Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as designing, building, and commissioning of large-scale energy projects to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 18 gigawatts of power-generating capacity.