City Center Advisors LLC Sells 175 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

City Center Advisors LLC lowered its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,523 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 175 shares during the period. City Center Advisors LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $336,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Argan by 815.1% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 77,460 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $10,615,000 after purchasing an additional 68,995 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 15,436 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,386 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 104,951 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $14,382,000 after purchasing an additional 35,355 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 106.3% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 81,239 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $11,133,000 after purchasing an additional 41,859 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,042,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on AGX shares. Kepler Capital Markets downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Argan in a research report on Monday, July 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $220.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Lake Street Capital increased their price target on Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.00.

Argan Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE AGX opened at $230.80 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.79 and a 12 month high of $253.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.74 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $223.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.62.

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

Argan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 23rd. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 18.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.56, for a total transaction of $469,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 31,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,371,751.68. The trade was a 5.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 5,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $1,225,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,970. The trade was a 25.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,836 shares of company stock worth $6,380,666. 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.