Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Buys New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,000 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,567,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at about $14,138,000. Thames Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $11,175,000. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $971,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Argan by 125.3% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,505 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,377,000 after purchasing an additional 6,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital increased their price target on shares of Argan from $325.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $425.40.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total transaction of $1,885,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,302,380.92. This trade represents a 30.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total value of $5,053,649.56. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,834,342.55. The trade was a 16.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of Argan stock opened at $720.09 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.93 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.97 and a 1 year high of $742.30. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $563.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $426.94.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. The firm had revenue of $262.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $255.32 million. Argan had a return on equity of 33.62% and a net margin of 14.59%.Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

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

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