8,592 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Acquired by Silvant Capital Management LLC

Silvant Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,592 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,861,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AGX. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $478,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,764,086,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,748,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,728,000. Finally, Thames Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total value of $3,313,222.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,468,228.12. This represents a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were 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 approximately $26,052,056.10. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. Corporate insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Argan Stock Performance

AGX stock opened at $514.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.20 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $636.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $580.18.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

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

Argan Company 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.