Navellier & Associates Inc. Sells 2,334 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Navellier & Associates Inc. reduced its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,108 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,334 shares during the quarter. Argan comprises about 1.3% of Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $11,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AGX shares. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $425.40.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,104,295.78. This trade represents a 27.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 stock was sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total transaction of $5,053,649.56. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,495 shares in the company, valued at $24,834,342.55. This trade represents a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $720.64 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.10 and a 1 year high of $742.30. The firm has a market cap of $10.05 billion, a PE ratio of 73.99 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $533.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $409.39.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. The business had revenue of $262.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $255.32 million. Argan had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 33.62%. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.53%.

Argan declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the construction company to purchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.