Freemont Management S.A. Purchases New Stake in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Freemont Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 3,000 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,634,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $137,503,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 168.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,862,000 after acquiring an additional 159,149 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 172.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,687,000 after acquiring an additional 145,516 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $34,647,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 320.0% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 153,115 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,349,000 after purchasing an additional 116,657 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $548.54 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $679.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $539.85. The company has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20 and a beta of 0.57. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.90 and a 12-month high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is 17.57%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total value of $6,507,641.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,052,056.10. This represents a 19.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total transaction of $6,879,979.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 30,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,847,215.20. The trade was a 26.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,309 shares of company stock worth $102,366,655. 6.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.