OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Invests $4.62 Million in Argan, Inc. $AGX

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,785 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,620,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the second quarter worth $1,764,086,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the 4th quarter worth $2,748,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund bought a new position in Argan during the 1st quarter worth about $1,728,000. Finally, Thames Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Argan by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 51,794 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,228,000 after purchasing an additional 10,411 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total transaction of $1,729,740.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,421,078.64. The trade was a 10.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,052,056.10. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828 in the last three months. 2.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Trading Down 6.5%

Argan stock opened at $469.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.23 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.00 and a 1-year high of $805.75. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $628.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $581.86.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is currently 17.57%.

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.