Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 46.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,882 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,868 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Argan were worth $772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Argan by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 843,583 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $115,605,000 after acquiring an additional 16,784 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 672,579 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $92,170,000 after purchasing an additional 116,783 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 529,052 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $72,502,000 after purchasing an additional 29,062 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 480,658 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $65,869,000 after purchasing an additional 73,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AGX. Kepler Capital Markets lowered shares of Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on shares of Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 1,565 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.32, for a total value of $238,380.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,802 shares in the company, valued at $1,188,400.64. The trade was a 16.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.03, for a total transaction of $725,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,667,264.88. The trade was a 30.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,857 shares of company stock worth $1,308,133 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE AGX traded up $7.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $243.01. The stock had a trading volume of 583,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 332,247. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.53 and a 1 year high of $246.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a PE ratio of 50.84 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $168.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $151.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The company had revenue of $193.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.75 million. During the same period in the previous 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Argan's payout ratio is currently 21.04%.

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.