Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd Buys 10,462 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd raised its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 61.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 27,517 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,462 shares during the quarter. Argan accounts for approximately 2.3% of Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Hel Ved Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Argan were worth $8,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Danske Bank A S bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

Argan stock opened at $642.73 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $645.93 and a 200-day moving average of $477.61. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $193.82 and a 1 year high of $779.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.48 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.57%.

Argan announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $619.88, for a total transaction of $495,904.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,940. This represents a 61.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 2,698 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.84, for a total transaction of $1,793,738.32. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,329,680. This represents a 57.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Argan 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.