Calamos Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Calamos Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 50.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,258 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 6,467 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $3,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Argan during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. grew its stake in shares of Argan by 2,950.0% during the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. 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 report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In related news, Director Karen Sweeney sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,091,340. This trade represents a 16.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. This trade represents a 33.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 170,619 shares of company stock worth $113,993,399. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Argan stock opened at $612.17 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $685.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $538.22. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.90 and a twelve month high of $805.75. The stock has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.79 and a beta of 0.57.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The firm’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 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 (DPR) is 17.57%.

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan 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.