William Griffin, Jr. Sells 50,000 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total transaction of $32,173,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at $58,539,416.96. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Argan Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of AGX stock traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $690.38. 382,211 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 408,659. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $193.82 and a 1-year high of $779.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $648.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $480.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 60.67 and a beta of 0.59.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The business had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’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 fiscal year.

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AGX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. 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 research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Argan in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Argan Company 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.