Leavell Investment Management Inc. Has $557,000 Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 51.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,250 shares of the construction company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,450 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Argan were worth $557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Argan by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,515 shares of the construction company's stock worth $2,400,000 after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $2,272,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Argan by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 3,917 shares of the construction company's stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth about $8,002,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Argan by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 859 shares of the construction company's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AGX shares. Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Kepler Capital Markets downgraded Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 13,728 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.58, for a total transaction of $3,041,850.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 196,723 shares in the company, valued at $43,589,882.34. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $220.47, for a total value of $3,307,050.00. Following the sale, the director owned 33,428 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,369,871.16. This represents a 30.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 92,696 shares of company stock valued at $19,291,140 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX stock opened at $212.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.79 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $162.50. 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 issued its 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. The business had revenue of $193.66 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.75 million. Argan had a return on equity of 29.61% and a net margin of 11.00%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.58 earnings per share.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Argan's payout ratio is currently 21.04%.

Argan Profile

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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