Wellington Management Group LLP Takes Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 15,975 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,757,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGX. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Argan in the 2nd quarter worth $1,764,086,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Argan by 32.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $431,010,000 after purchasing an additional 192,204 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Argan by 2.1% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $332,726,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its position in shares of Argan by 5.9% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $253,131,000 after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Argan by 25.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 400,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $125,462,000 after purchasing an additional 80,415 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $417.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $565.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $584.75. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.00 and a 1 year high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 2nd. The construction company reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $1.12. The firm had revenue of $383.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $300.53 million. Argan had a return on equity of 38.51% and a net margin of 15.09%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 61.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 13.44 EPS for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 15.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings upgraded Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Freedom Broker raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, CEO David Watson sold 9,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total value of $6,507,641.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,052,056.10. This represents a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total transaction of $1,729,740.76. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,421,078.64. This trade represents a 10.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828. Insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

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.