Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $425.40.

AGX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, April 6th. Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on shares of Argan from $325.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total value of $1,885,080.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,302,380.92. This represents a 30.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 2,698 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $664.84, for a total transaction of $1,793,738.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,329,680. The trade was a 57.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGX. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Argan by 70.2% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 921 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its position in shares of Argan by 0.6% in the first quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 5,030 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,734,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Florida Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the first quarter worth approximately $309,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Argan by 1.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,962 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $216,728,000 after purchasing an additional 4,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Argan by 1.1% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 27,500 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $14,978,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $678.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.69 and a beta of 0.61. Argan has a fifty-two week low of $169.79 and a fifty-two week high of $742.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $553.27 and its 200 day moving average is $420.86.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. The business had revenue of $262.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $255.32 million. Argan had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 33.62%. The company’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Argan will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.53%.

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.