Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Invests $539,000 in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 990 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter worth $137,503,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 168.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,862,000 after purchasing an additional 159,149 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 172.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,687,000 after purchasing an additional 145,516 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,647,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 153,115 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,349,000 after purchasing an additional 116,657 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $612.17 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.90 and a 12-month high of $805.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $685.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $538.22. The company has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

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

Argan declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price target on the stock in a research 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 stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Karen Sweeney sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.00, for a total value of $211,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,548 shares in the company, valued at $1,091,340. The trade was a 16.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total value of $1,329,818.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,297,536.75. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 170,619 shares of company stock valued at $113,993,399 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.69% 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.