52,070 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Bought by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Key Points

• Vaughan Nelson Investment Management disclosed a new position in Argan, buying 52,070 shares worth about $28.36 million and owning roughly 0.37% of the company.
• Argan reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.24 beating estimates and revenue of $290.95 million, up 50.2% from a year earlier. The company also raised its profile with analysts, who currently rate it Moderate Buy on average.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 and a $200 million share repurchase program, while insiders recently sold shares and institutions continue to hold a large majority of the stock.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 52,070 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $28,360,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 0.37% of Argan as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AGX. TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,748,000. Alpine Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth approximately $16,203,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,574,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research cut Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. 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 research report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Argan to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Trading Up 6.9%

Shares of Argan stock opened at $789.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $663.35 and a 200 day moving average of $493.23. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.90 and a 12 month high of $791.38. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 69.41 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The company's revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.57%.

Argan announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total transaction of $557,308.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. This trade represents a 33.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Karen Sweeney sold 300 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $705.00, for a total transaction of $211,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,548 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,091,340. This represents a 16.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 136,800 shares of company stock valued at $86,312,461 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

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.

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