Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $470.40.

AGX has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE:AGX opened at $764.06 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.14 and a beta of 0.59. Argan has a 52 week low of $196.90 and a 52 week high of $791.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $674.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $504.76.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Argan will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in 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 often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,539,416.96. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total transaction of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,847,215.20. This trade represents a 26.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 186,800 shares of company stock worth $123,296,561. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Argan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.