City Center Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

City Center Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,698 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $23,064,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 672,579 shares of the construction company's stock worth $92,170,000 after acquiring an additional 116,783 shares during the period. Thames Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Argan by 286.8% during the 4th quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 117,384 shares of the construction company's stock worth $16,086,000 after acquiring an additional 87,038 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Argan by 80.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 186,437 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $25,549,000 after acquiring an additional 83,039 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Argan by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 295,349 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $40,475,000 after purchasing an additional 80,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on shares of Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Kepler Capital Markets cut shares of Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX traded down $2.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $222.26. 406,450 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 338,673. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.50 and a beta of 0.55. The business's fifty day moving average is $173.97 and its 200 day moving average is $152.92. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $63.53 and a fifty-two week high of $246.60.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The construction company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.51. Argan had a return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business had revenue of $193.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. Argan's payout ratio is currently 21.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Director James W. Quinn sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.92, for a total transaction of $8,316,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,442,531.44. The trade was a 70.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 13,728 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $221.58, for a total transaction of $3,041,850.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 196,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,589,882.34. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,585 shares of company stock worth $12,666,783. 6.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.