Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $4.41 Million in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group initiated a $4.41 million position in Argan during the second quarter, while institutional investors collectively own 79.43% of the company.
• Argan reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $3.24 per share beating estimates by $0.93 and revenue rising 50.2% year over year to $290.95 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains moderately positive, with an average “Moderate Buy” rating and $470.40 target price, although insiders sold roughly $87.6 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,523 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $4,410,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Argan in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at $260,000. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in Argan in the second quarter worth about $532,000. Finally, Palogic Value Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,236,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Argan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Argan from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $470.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the sale, the chairman owned 40,976 shares in the company, valued at $31,159,379.68. This represents a 32.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total transaction of $3,313,222.24. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,468,228.12. This trade represents a 69.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828. Corporate insiders own 2.99% of the company's stock.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $419.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.90 and a beta of 0.61. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $606.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $582.92. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.00 and a 1 year high of $805.75.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.

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.

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