Analysts Set Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Price Target at $470.40

Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $470.40.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX stock opened at $527.74 on Thursday. Argan has a 1 year low of $197.00 and a 1 year high of $805.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 46.37 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $638.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $578.99.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly 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. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The company had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Argan will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,159,379.68. The trade was a 32.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. This represents a 33.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 over the last three months. 2.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Argan in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.