William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 30,642 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,469,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 0.22% of Argan at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at $1,764,086,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $259,267,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Argan by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $431,010,000 after buying an additional 192,204 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Argan by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $332,726,000 after buying an additional 12,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its position in Argan by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $253,131,000 after buying an additional 25,901 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity at Argan

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

Argan Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $504.36 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $197.00 and a 12-month high of $805.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.32 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $633.25 and a 200 day moving average of $579.65.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

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.