Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Buys New Stake in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• Baader Bank disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Argan, buying 5,000 shares valued at about $1.57 million. The filing comes amid broader institutional interest, with hedge funds owning most of the stock.
• Argan reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.47 topping estimates by a wide margin and revenue of $262.05 million also beating expectations. Revenue rose 12.7% year over year, and analysts now expect full-year EPS of 11.44.
• The company returned cash to shareholders through a quarterly dividend and authorized a $200 million share buyback. However, recent insider sales have been notable, including share sales by the CEO and a director in late April.

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 5,000 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $1,567,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Argan Stock Up 5.7%

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $720.09 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $176.97 and a 52 week high of $742.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $563.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $426.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.93 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on shares of Argan from $325.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Argan to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $425.40.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total transaction of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,847,215.20. The trade was a 26.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total transaction of $1,885,080.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,302,380.92. The trade was a 30.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956 in the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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