Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock Moved Down to “Hold” by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on AGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Argan from $800.00 to $785.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Freedom Broker upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings cut Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $476.67.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE:AGX opened at $393.62 on Friday. Argan has a 12 month low of $255.60 and a 12 month high of $805.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $452.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $573.31.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The construction company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $1.12. The company had revenue of $383.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.53 million. Argan had a return on equity of 38.51% and a net margin of 15.09%. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 61.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Argan will post 13.72 EPS for the current year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 15.82%.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other news, Director John Jeffrey, Jr. 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 transaction of $3,313,222.24. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,468,228.12. This represents a 69.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AGX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,764,086,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Argan by 32.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $431,010,000 after purchasing an additional 192,204 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Argan by 2.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $332,726,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its holdings in Argan by 5.9% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $253,131,000 after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Argan by 1.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 397,962 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $216,728,000 after purchasing an additional 4,954 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Argan

Argan, Inc (NYSE: AGX) is a holding company that provides engineering, procurement and construction services primarily to the power-generation and renewable-energy industries. Through its subsidiaries, the company supports the development and construction of energy infrastructure, including natural gas-fired power plants, renewable-energy facilities and related industrial projects.

Argan’s principal operating businesses include Gemma Power Systems, which provides project development, design, engineering, procurement, construction management, commissioning and operations support services.