Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Trims Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. has reduced its stake in Argan, Inc. by 33.6%, now holding 8,591 shares valued at approximately $1.13 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Insiders at Argan have significantly sold shares, with Director William F. Leimkuhler selling 7,604 shares and Director James W. Quinn selling 40,000 shares, indicating a substantial decrease in their ownership positions.
• Argan recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.60, outperforming estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.375 per share, reflecting a 0.63% yield.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lessened its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 33.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,591 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 4,346 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. owned about 0.06% of Argan worth $1,127,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Argan during the 1st quarter worth $413,000. PFG Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 94.4% during the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 4,132 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,006 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Argan during the first quarter valued at $262,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in Argan by 21.7% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 2,621 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 467 shares during the period. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Argan during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,204,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AGX. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Kepler Capital Markets cut shares of Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, July 21st. They set a "neutral" rating and a $220.00 target price for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $202.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Quinn sold 40,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.92, for a total value of $8,316,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,442,531.44. This trade represents a 70.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,456 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $212.01, for a total value of $732,706.56. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,157,888.95. The trade was a 18.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 85,839 shares of company stock valued at $18,452,127 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

Argan Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of AGX stock traded up $3.62 on Thursday, reaching $244.12. The company had a trading volume of 344,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 440,695. The business's 50-day moving average is $214.65 and its 200 day moving average is $169.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.33 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30 and a beta of 0.54. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $63.53 and a one year high of $253.79.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The construction company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.51. Argan had a return on equity of 29.61% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company had revenue of $193.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $193.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.58 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 22.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Argan's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.