Argan (NYSE:AGX) Rating Increased to Buy at Lake Street Capital

Lake Street Capital upgraded shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Lake Street Capital currently has $150.00 target price on the construction company’s stock.

Separately, CJS Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $138.81 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.44. Argan has a 12 month low of $48.85 and a 12 month high of $191.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The construction company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.07. Argan had a return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business had revenue of $232.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $197.50 million. Argan’s revenue was up 41.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total transaction of $124,192.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,977,037.48. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,050. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,185 shares of company stock valued at $1,644,859. 11.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $339,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,446,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Argan by 68.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,033 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Argan by 21.5% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,009 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP grew its stake in Argan by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 6,872 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $697,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Company Profile

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.