Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $355.20.

AGX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. CJS Securities upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Glj Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $369.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, December 1st.

Argan Trading Down 4.4%

AGX stock opened at $363.44 on Friday. Argan has a 1-year low of $101.02 and a 1-year high of $400.00. The firm has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.81 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $340.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $284.86.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The construction company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.35. Argan had a return on equity of 31.38% and a net margin of 13.11%.The company had revenue of $251.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $251.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.00 earnings per share. Argan’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.71, for a total value of $2,068,917.45. Following the sale, the director owned 7,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,461,682.37. The trade was a 45.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $380.60, for a total transaction of $1,027,620.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,020,875.20. This trade represents a 16.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 50,915 shares of company stock valued at $18,378,894 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in Argan by 87.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,156 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in shares of Argan by 279.7% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 2,821 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. Yorktown Management & Research Co Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 56.3% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 3,294 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC grew its stake in shares of Argan by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

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.