AdvisorShares Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,100 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $463,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 12.7% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $139,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 3.0% during the second quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 5,277 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 0.8% during the first quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 18,599 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,440,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 1.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,067,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 0.3% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 64,521 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,463,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 15,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.96, for a total transaction of $4,079,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,467,758.88. The trade was a 47.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 11,802 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.73, for a total value of $3,242,363.46. Following the sale, the director directly owned 38,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,668,864.82. The trade was a 23.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 106,795 shares of company stock worth $29,401,111. 6.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Glj Research initiated coverage on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $251.00 price target on the stock. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $315.00 target price on Argan in a research report on Monday, October 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.20.

Argan Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of AGX stock opened at $298.16 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $258.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $221.24. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.02 and a 52 week high of $320.00. The company has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84 and a beta of 0.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.51. Argan had a net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. The business had revenue of $237.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Argan’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Argan 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.