Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Acquires 276 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,253 shares of the construction company’s stock after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. City Center Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter worth $223,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 11,180.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,640 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,400,000 after purchasing an additional 5,590 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter valued at about $667,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 810.0% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 69,184 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,075,000 after acquiring an additional 61,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 362.2% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,969 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $652,000 after acquiring an additional 3,894 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 11,802 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.73, for a total transaction of $3,242,363.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 38,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,668,864.82. The trade was a 23.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director James W. Quinn sold 13,444 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total transaction of $3,618,049.28. Following the sale, the director directly owned 49,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,340,278.40. This represents a 21.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 71,027 shares of company stock valued at $18,492,595 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Glj Research assumed coverage on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, July 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $220.00 target price for the company. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their target price on shares of Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Argan currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $220.25.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $272.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 32.69 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $237.39 and a 200 day moving average of $199.26. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.02 and a 1 year high of $283.35.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.51. Argan had a net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. The company had revenue of $237.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 23rd. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.03%.

Argan Company 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.