Key Points
- Argan Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares on June 22 at an average price of $760.43, totaling about $15.2 million. After the sale, he still owned 40,976 shares, a 32.8% reduction in his position.
- Argan recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.24 topping estimates of $2.31 and revenue of $290.95 million beating expectations. Revenue also rose 50.2% year over year.
- The company has also announced a $200 million stock buyback and a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, payable July 31. Analysts currently have a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average price target of $470.40.
Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) Chairman William Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total transaction of $15,208,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 40,976 shares in the company, valued at $31,159,379.68. This trade represents a 32.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.
Argan Price Performance
AGX opened at $736.53 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $666.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $495.94. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.90 and a fifty-two week high of $791.38. The company has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.72 and a beta of 0.58.
Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $256.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.
Argan declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
Argan Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be paid 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 is 17.57%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Lake Street Capital increased their price target 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $470.40.
Read Our Latest Analysis on AGX
Institutional Trading of Argan
Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $137,503,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Argan by 69.8% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 559,466 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $151,084,000 after acquiring an additional 230,073 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 168.9% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company's stock worth $55,862,000 after acquiring an additional 159,149 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 172.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company's stock worth $50,687,000 after acquiring an additional 145,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth about $35,629,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company's stock.
About Argan
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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