NewEdge Wealth LLC Purchases New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 10,173 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,123,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC owned 0.07% of Argan as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter worth about $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,748,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund bought a new position in Argan during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,728,000. Thames Capital Management LLC increased its position in Argan by 25.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at $5,574,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

AGX stock opened at $527.74 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.37 and a beta of 0.61. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.00 and a 1-year high of $805.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $638.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $578.99.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.57%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $699.00, for a total transaction of $1,398,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,880 shares in the company, valued at $3,411,120. This represents a 29.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total transaction of $557,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. This represents a 33.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock worth $87,554,828. 2.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.