Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,881 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,502,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the first quarter worth $25,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $588.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $640.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $576.41. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.00 and a 1 year high of $805.75. The stock has a market cap of $8.25 billion, a PE ratio of 51.69 and a beta of 0.61.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In related news, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total transaction of $3,313,222.24. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,533 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,468,228.12. This trade represents a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total value of $15,208,600.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 40,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,159,379.68. This represents a 32.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital lifted their price target on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

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.