Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Sold by D.A. Davidson & CO.

Key Points

• D.A. Davidson & CO. reduced its stake in Argan, Inc. by 7.2%, though several other institutional investors have increased their positions significantly, highlighting a strong interest in the company.
• Analyst ratings for Argan have improved, with upgrades from "hold" to "buy" and a target price rising to $315.00 from $220.00, indicating growing confidence in the stock.
• Argan recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.50 per share, up from $0.38, reflecting the company's positive financial performance and commitment to returning value to shareholders.

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,920 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 1,710 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. owned 0.16% of Argan worth $4,833,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 2,987.5% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 247 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $71,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $170,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter valued at $109,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its position in shares of Argan by 16,640.0% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 837 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 832 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a report on Friday. UBS Group set a $315.00 target price on Argan in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $258.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 4,441 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.01, for a total transaction of $1,230,201.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 47,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,210,883.91. This trade represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 15,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.96, for a total value of $4,079,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,428 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,467,758.88. The trade was a 47.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,520 shares of company stock valued at $32,464,470 over the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Argan Stock Up 7.6%

Shares of Argan stock opened at $297.03 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a PE ratio of 35.70 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $216.39. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.02 and a 12 month high of $320.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $237.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $243.97 million. Argan had a return on equity of 32.61% and a net margin of 12.73%.Argan's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Argan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 23rd. Argan's payout ratio is 24.04%.

About Argan

Argan, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, and technical consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Services, Industrial Services, and Telecom Services segments. The Power Services segment offers engineering, procurement, and construction, as well as designing, building, and commissioning of large-scale energy projects to the owners of alternative energy facilities, such as biomass plants, wind farms, and solar fields; and design, construction, project management, start-up, and operation services for projects with approximately 18 gigawatts of power-generating capacity.

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