Argan, Inc. $AGX Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 492,694 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 24,608 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $108,629,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the first quarter worth $667,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Argan by 810.0% during 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. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Argan during the 1st quarter worth $551,000. Delta Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter worth about $536,000. Finally, Hartree Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter worth about $2,361,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $371.88 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $101.02 and a 12-month high of $399.30. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.70 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $298.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.69.

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

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 23rd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Argan’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AGX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Argan in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $397.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Lake Street Capital lifted their target price on Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $301.00.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.09, for a total value of $2,920,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 21,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,135,642.54. This represents a 32.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,493 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.39, for a total transaction of $1,911,474.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,897 shares in the company, valued at $2,913,577.83. The trade was a 39.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 106,795 shares of company stock worth $29,401,111 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

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.