Great Lakes Advisors LLC Takes Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,980 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,775,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Argan by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 117,805 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $15,452,000 after purchasing an additional 12,854 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Argan by 118.3% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 5,316 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 2,881 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 13.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 35,567 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $4,665,000 after acquiring an additional 4,196 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 37.3% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 8,985 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,179,000 after acquiring an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter worth about $286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Argan

In related news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total value of $32,173,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at $58,539,416.96. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total transaction of $3,350,497.20. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,512. This represents a 40.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828. Company insiders own 2.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX opened at $527.74 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $197.00 and a one year high of $805.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $638.19 and its 200-day moving average is $578.99. The company has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 46.37 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were 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 was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

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.