4,000 Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX Acquired by Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,000 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,080,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 14,436.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 329,393 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $72,624,000 after acquiring an additional 327,127 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 324,356 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $71,514,000 after purchasing an additional 5,575 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Argan by 3.9% in 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. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Argan by 696.9% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 296,988 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $65,480,000 after purchasing an additional 259,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Argan by 168.9% during the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $55,862,000 after buying an additional 159,149 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Argan Stock Up 13.5%

Shares of AGX stock opened at $421.59 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.66 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $340.85 and a 200 day moving average of $298.44. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.02 and a 52 week high of $423.79.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Glj Research upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $369.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, December 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Argan in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $397.00 price objective for the company. Finally, CJS Securities raised shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Argan presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $355.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Argan news, Director James W. Quinn sold 1,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $328.04, for a total transaction of $328,040.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.71, for a total value of $2,068,917.45. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,847 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,682.37. This trade represents a 45.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 55,915 shares of company stock valued at $20,182,794 over the last ninety days. 6.69% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.