Fifth Third Bancorp Invests $3 Million in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp disclosed a new first-quarter stake in Argan, buying 5,501 shares valued at about $3.0 million.
• Argan has attracted significant institutional interest, with hedge funds and other investors now owning 79.43% of the stock. Recent analyst updates have skewed positive, and the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average target price of $470.40.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $3.24 versus estimates of $2.31 and revenue growth of 50.2% year over year. Argan also announced a quarterly dividend and a $200 million share buyback program, though insiders have sold shares recently.

Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,501 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $2,996,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth $137,503,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Argan by 168.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company's stock worth $55,862,000 after purchasing an additional 159,149 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 172.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $50,687,000 after buying an additional 145,516 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,647,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Argan by 320.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 153,115 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $41,349,000 after buying an additional 116,657 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AGX. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Lake Street Capital raised their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Stock Up 9.3%

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $602.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.95 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $678.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $543.41. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.90 and a twelve month high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. The business's revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total value of $32,173,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $617.41, for a total value of $3,087,050.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 36,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,532,377.95. This represents a 12.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 134,105 shares of company stock worth $91,724,081 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.69% 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.