Trexquant Investment LP Acquires 72,922 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP significantly increased its stake in Argan, Inc. by 258% during the 1st quarter, now holding approximately $13.27 million worth of shares.
• Argan, Inc. reported $1.60 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing the analyst estimate by $0.51, while its quarterly revenue rose by 22.8% compared to the previous year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.375 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.50 with a payout ratio of 21.04%.

Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 258.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,181 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 72,922 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.74% of Argan worth $13,272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter valued at about $23,064,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the first quarter valued at about $11,307,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Argan by 9.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 926,168 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $121,485,000 after buying an additional 82,585 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the first quarter valued at about $9,958,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Argan by 815.1% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 77,460 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $10,615,000 after buying an additional 68,995 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 2,621 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.63, for a total transaction of $617,586.23. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,254 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,180,520.02. This represents a 22.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 7,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.03, for a total value of $1,688,316.12. Following the sale, the director directly owned 50,636 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,242,711.08. This trade represents a 13.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 96,564 shares of company stock valued at $21,046,366. Corporate insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Argan in a report on Monday, July 21st. They set a "neutral" rating and a $220.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Argan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets lowered Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $202.00.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX traded down $12.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $229.47. The stock had a trading volume of 505,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 289,905. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $221.07 and a 200 day moving average of $180.33. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.81 and a 1 year high of $253.79.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The construction company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $193.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.75 million. Argan had a return on equity of 29.61% and a net margin of 11.00%.Argan's revenue for the quarter was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 23rd. Argan's dividend payout ratio is 21.04%.

About Argan

Argan, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, and technical consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Services, Industrial Services, and Telecom Services segments. The Power Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as designing, building, and commissioning of large-scale energy projects to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 18 gigawatts of power-generating capacity.