Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Bought by Calamos Advisors LLC

Calamos Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 40.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,427 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 6,748 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $5,165,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $121,485,000 after acquiring an additional 82,585 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Argan by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 517,302 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $67,855,000 after purchasing an additional 36,644 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Argan by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,453 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $69,339,000 after purchasing an additional 11,788 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Argan by 1,142.2% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 188,665 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $41,597,000 after purchasing an additional 173,477 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Argan by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 174,533 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $38,481,000 after buying an additional 3,762 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James W. Quinn sold 13,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total value of $3,618,049.28. Following the sale, the director owned 49,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,340,278.40. This represents a 21.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.96, for a total value of $4,079,400.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,467,758.88. This trade represents a 47.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 106,795 shares of company stock worth $29,401,111. 6.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Glj Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $369.00 in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Lake Street Capital upped their target price on shares of Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $301.00.

Argan Stock Down 7.8%

NYSE:AGX opened at $336.40 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.02 and a 52-week high of $365.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $277.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $233.82. The company has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 40.43 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 24.04%.

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.