Analysts Set Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Price Target at $470.40

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $470.40.

A number of brokerages have commented on AGX. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th.

Argan Stock Down 6.0%

NYSE AGX opened at $566.37 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $668.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $549.60. Argan has a 12-month low of $197.00 and a 12-month high of $805.75. The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.77 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.57%.

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

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 2,698 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.84, for a total transaction of $1,793,738.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,329,680. This represents a 57.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.41, for a total value of $3,087,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 36,495 shares in the company, valued at $22,532,377.95. The trade was a 12.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 134,105 shares of company stock valued at $91,724,081. Company insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Argan by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $259,267,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 32.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $431,010,000 after acquiring an additional 192,204 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 2.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $332,726,000 after acquiring an additional 12,300 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its stake in Argan by 5.9% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $253,131,000 after acquiring an additional 25,901 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Argan by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 400,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $125,462,000 after acquiring an additional 80,415 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

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.