Jupiter Topco LLC Makes New Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 35,932 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,697,000. Jupiter Topco LLC owned approximately 0.26% of Argan at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AGX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,764,086,000. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter worth about $478,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,728,000. Thames Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 51,794 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,228,000 after purchasing an additional 10,411 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,574,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total transaction of $32,173,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 90,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,539,416.96. The trade was a 35.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total transaction of $6,507,641.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at $26,052,056.10. This trade represents a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last ninety days. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AGX. Weiss Ratings raised Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Lake Street Capital upped their price target on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Argan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE:AGX opened at $419.92 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $197.00 and a 52-week high of $805.75. The company has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.90 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $606.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $582.92.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

About Argan

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.