Sapient Capital LLC Sells 14,637 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Sapient Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 35.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,366 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 14,637 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $21,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Argan by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 827,482 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $259,267,000 after acquiring an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Argan by 32.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $431,010,000 after purchasing an additional 192,204 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Argan by 2.1% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 610,899 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $332,726,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the period. Maverick Capital Ltd. increased its holdings in Argan by 5.9% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 464,759 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $253,131,000 after purchasing an additional 25,901 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Argan by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 400,379 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $125,462,000 after purchasing an additional 80,415 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Argan stock opened at $597.43 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $651.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $567.84. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.00 and a 1-year high of $805.75. The company has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.50 and a beta of 0.61.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The company had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Argan’s payout ratio is 17.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on AGX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,596 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $666.31, for a total value of $1,729,740.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 23,144 shares in the company, valued at $15,421,078.64. The trade was a 10.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 50,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $643.46, for a total transaction of $32,173,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 90,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,539,416.96. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Argan Company 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.