Nicholas Investment Partners LP Invests $11.33 Million in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Nicholas Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 14,190 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,331,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter worth about $77,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,159,379.68. This represents a 32.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total transaction of $1,398,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,411,120. This trade represents a 29.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX opened at $469.15 on Tuesday. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $197.00 and a one year high of $805.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.23 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $628.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $581.86.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The business’s revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Argan’s payout ratio is currently 17.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

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.