Navellier & Associates Inc. Buys 1,761 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,923 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 1,761 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 305,298 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $22,336,000 after purchasing an additional 73,658 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Argan in the second quarter worth about $5,245,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 72.2% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 114,224 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $11,586,000 after buying an additional 47,881 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,783,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,168,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Argan Price Performance

AGX stock opened at $154.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 48.45 and a beta of 0.49. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.74 and a 12 month high of $162.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $120.93 and its 200 day moving average is $90.07.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The construction company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.34. Argan had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 6.11%. The company had revenue of $227.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.05 million. The firm’s revenue was up 60.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were issued a $0.375 dividend. This is an increase from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 47.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total value of $1,314,660.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 219,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,606,257.90. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value of $962,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,852 shares in the company, valued at $3,448,962.40. This trade represents a 21.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,703 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,794 over the last three months. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company 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.