Janus Henderson Group PLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 46.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,286 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 24,481 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $15,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Argan by 2.0% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 775 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Argan by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 541 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft grew its holdings in 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. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Argan by 26.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 147 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total transaction of $6,507,641.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,052,056.10. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total value of $3,350,497.20. Following the sale, the director owned 6,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Up 4.3%

Shares of Argan stock opened at $618.23 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $197.00 and a 12-month high of $805.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.33 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $655.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $562.95.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. 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 (DPR) is 17.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on AGX. Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan 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.