Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Makes New Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,172 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,728,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in Argan by 2,950.0% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total value of $3,350,497.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total transaction of $5,053,649.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 41,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,834,342.55. This represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 179,663 shares of company stock worth $119,410,408 in the last 90 days. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. 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 research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Stock Down 8.2%

Argan stock traded down $56.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $631.42. The stock had a trading volume of 308,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 317,320. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.85 billion, a PE ratio of 55.48 and a beta of 0.57. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.90 and a 12 month high of $805.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $691.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $530.98.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

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.