Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd Has $8.62 Million Stock Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 61.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 27,517 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 10,462 shares during the period. Argan makes up approximately 2.3% of Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd owned 0.20% of Argan worth $8,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Argan by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 541 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Argan by 26.7% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 147 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Argan by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,564 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Ring Mountain Capital LLC boosted its position in Argan by 1.3% during the third quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $739,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC boosted its position in Argan by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,231 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Stock Up 3.1%

AGX opened at $642.73 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.82 and a twelve month high of $779.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $645.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $477.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.48 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The business had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Argan’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.57%.

Argan declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $628.36, for a total transaction of $1,885,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,302,380.92. This represents a 30.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $619.88, for a total transaction of $495,904.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,940. This represents a 61.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 64,543 shares of company stock valued at $39,054,956 over the last three months. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Argan 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.