Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Has $7.71 Million Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 15.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,611 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,638 shares during the quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. owned 0.18% of Argan worth $7,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Freedom Capital raised Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Lake Street Capital raised their price target on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $642.73 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.48 and a beta of 0.59. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $645.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $478.34. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.82 and a 52 week high of $779.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The business 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 for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.57%.

Argan announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $619.88, for a total value of $495,904.00. Following the sale, the director owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,940. This trade represents a 61.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 2,698 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.84, for a total value of $1,793,738.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,329,680. This trade represents a 57.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

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.