Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC Has $251,000 Stake in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 66.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 460 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 925 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AGX. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at about $137,503,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Argan by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 559,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,084,000 after acquiring an additional 230,073 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Argan by 168.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $55,862,000 after acquiring an additional 159,149 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Argan by 172.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $50,687,000 after acquiring an additional 145,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,647,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $788.57 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $678.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $507.97. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.90 and a 52-week high of $798.00. The stock has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.29 and a beta of 0.59.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. The firm had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.57%.

Argan declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on AGX shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total transaction of $15,208,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 40,976 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,159,379.68. This represents a 32.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 1,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,084,550.70. This trade represents a 33.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 182,244 shares of company stock valued at $120,837,004 over the last quarter. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Argan Company Profile

Argan, Inc (NYSE: AGX) is a holding company that provides professional technical and management services to the power generation and renewable energy industries. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company delivers engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM), commissioning and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a broad range of energy facilities. Argan focuses on projects for utility, industrial and municipally owned clients, helping to bring efficient thermal and renewable energy plants into operation and maintain optimal performance over the asset life cycle.

The company’s principal subsidiaries include Gemma Power Systems, which specializes in turnkey construction of combined-cycle, simple-cycle, cogeneration and renewable energy plants; Atlantic Projects Company, which provides electrical balance-of-plant, control systems, instrumentation and commissioning services; and Infrastructure Solutions, which offers industrial maintenance, outage support and modification services.