State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 3,481 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its Argan stake by 35.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,481 shares and ending with 6,263 shares worth about $1.96 million.
• Argan reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.47 versus estimates of $1.99 and revenue of $262.05 million, while analysts now see consensus Moderate Buy sentiment and a $425.40 average target price.
• The company also announced a $200 million share repurchase program and recently paid a $0.50 quarterly dividend, even as several insiders, including the CEO and a director, sold shares over the last few months.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 35.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,263 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 3,481 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D's holdings in Argan were worth $1,962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust purchased a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth about $14,138,000. Thames Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,175,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth $971,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Argan by 125.3% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,505 shares of the construction company's stock worth $3,377,000 after buying an additional 6,955 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $35,629,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AGX shares. Freedom Capital raised Argan to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $425.40.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX stock opened at $680.83 on Monday. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $168.26 and a 1 year high of $742.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.90 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $543.96 and a 200 day moving average of $415.32.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.99 by $1.48. Argan had a net margin of 14.59% and a return on equity of 33.62%. The company had revenue of $262.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $255.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan's payout ratio is 20.53%.

Argan announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total transaction of $1,885,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,302,380.92. This trade represents a 30.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total value of $11,626,744.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,998 shares of the company's stock, valued at $30,104,295.78. The trade was a 27.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956 in the last ninety days. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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