Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Sold by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,610 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,896 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $4,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of AGX. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the second quarter worth $44,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Argan during the 3rd quarter worth about $55,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Argan by 22.0% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 255 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the second quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 1,116.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 365 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AGX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. UBS Group set a $315.00 price target on Argan in a report on Monday, October 13th. Lake Street Capital downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, CJS Securities upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.20.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 19,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.70, for a total value of $7,347,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 26,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,134,246.90. The trade was a 42.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,595 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.71, for a total transaction of $2,068,917.45. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,847 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,682.37. This represents a 45.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 55,915 shares of company stock valued at $20,182,794. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Down 2.5%

AGX opened at $346.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $341.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.34. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.02 and a 1 year high of $400.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84 and a beta of 0.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The construction company reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $251.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $251.50 million. Argan had a return on equity of 31.38% and a net margin of 13.11%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.00 EPS.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 22nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Argan’s payout ratio is 23.56%.

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.