2,237 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Purchased by Man Group plc

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,237 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,786,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in Argan by 2,950.0% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Argan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $52,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $77,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total transaction of $1,398,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,411,120. This represents a 29.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total transaction of $3,313,222.24. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,533 shares in the company, valued at $1,468,228.12. The trade was a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last three months. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $405.17 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $592.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $584.67. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $197.00 and a 52 week high of $805.75. The stock has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.60 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 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 firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Lake Street Capital raised their price target on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

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.