Sapient Capital LLC Has $21.05 Million Stake in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• Sapient Capital cut its Argan stake by 35.7% in the second quarter, selling 14,637 shares and retaining 26,366 shares valued at approximately $21.05 million. Institutional investors collectively own 79.43% of AGX.
• Argan reported a strong latest quarter, with EPS of $3.24 beating estimates of $2.31 and revenue of $290.95 million exceeding forecasts. Revenue rose 50.2% year over year.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $470.40, while insiders sold 127,973 shares worth about $87.6 million over the past 90 days.

Sapient Capital LLC lowered its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 35.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,366 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 14,637 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Argan worth $21,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AGX. M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter worth $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at $2,748,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter valued at $1,728,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth $5,574,000. Finally, Thames Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 51,794 shares of the construction company's stock worth $16,228,000 after purchasing an additional 10,411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Argan

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total transaction of $3,350,497.20. Following the sale, the director owned 6,880 shares in the company, valued at $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total value of $1,729,740.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 23,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,421,078.64. The trade was a 10.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Lake Street Capital increased their price target on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Trading Up 0.0%

AGX stock opened at $597.43 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $651.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $567.84. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $197.00 and a 12 month high of $805.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.50 and a beta of 0.61.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan's dividend payout ratio is 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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