Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 52,027 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group boosted its stake in Argan by 119.7% in the first quarter, buying 52,027 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 95,480 shares worth about $52.0 million.
• Argan posted strong quarterly results, reporting EPS of $3.24 versus $2.31 expected and revenue of $290.95 million, up 50.2% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share and has an active $200 million share buyback authorization, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a $470.40 consensus price target.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 119.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 95,480 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 52,027 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.68% of Argan worth $52,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in Argan in the third quarter worth $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in Argan by 2,950.0% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on AGX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. 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 report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. This trade represents a 33.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total value of $1,329,818.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 40,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,297,536.75. The trade was a 4.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 151,309 shares of company stock worth $102,366,655 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $548.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.20 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $679.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $539.85. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $196.90 and a fifty-two week high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business 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 is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.

Argan announced that its board 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 repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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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