NewEdge Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 10,173 Argan, Inc. $AGX

NewEdge Wealth LLC bought a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 10,173 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,123,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at about $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,748,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund bought a new stake in Argan during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,728,000. Thames Capital Management LLC grew its position in Argan by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 51,794 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $16,228,000 after buying an additional 10,411 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,574,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total value of $3,350,497.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total value of $6,507,641.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,052,056.10. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX opened at $527.74 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $197.00 and a fifty-two week high of $805.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $638.19 and its 200 day moving average is $578.99. The stock has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.37 and a beta of 0.61.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 EPS. Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 17.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on AGX shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Argan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.