Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC lowered its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 26.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,889 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,057 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $905,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new stake in Argan in the third quarter valued at approximately $14,138,000. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $971,000. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $478,000. Finally, Alpine Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total value of $1,885,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,302,380.92. This represents a 30.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total value of $5,053,649.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 41,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,834,342.55. This represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956 in the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on AGX. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $425.40.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $629.89 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $586.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $440.41. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $184.35 and a one year high of $748.50. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.67 and a beta of 0.61.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. Argan had a return on equity of 33.62% and a net margin of 14.59%.The firm had revenue of $262.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $255.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.53%.

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.