6,182 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Acquired by PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab

Key Points

• PFA Pension opened a new position in Argan of 6,182 shares in Q4 valued at about $1.95 million, and institutional investors now own roughly 79.4% of the stock.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently, offloading a total of 64,543 shares worth about $39.05 million over the last three months, reducing several insiders' holdings significantly (insider ownership now ~6.7%).
• Argan posted a quarterly earnings beat (EPS $3.47 vs. $1.99 est.) with revenue up 12.7%, and its board authorized a $200 million buyback (up to 2.5% of shares) while paying a quarterly dividend of $0.50 (annualized yield ~0.3%).

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 6,182 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $1,950,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Argan by 26.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 147 shares of the construction company's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total value of $5,053,649.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 41,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,834,342.55. The trade was a 16.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total value of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,847,215.20. This trade represents a 26.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956 in the last three months. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGX. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on Argan from $325.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $425.40.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX opened at $697.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $527.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $406.51. The company has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of 71.63 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $157.88 and a fifty-two week high of $715.98.

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

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 22nd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Argan's payout ratio is 20.53%.

Argan 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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