D.A. Davidson & CO. Invests $2.45 Million in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 24,113 shares of the construction company's stock, valued at approximately $2,446,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. owned approximately 0.18% of Argan as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 726,171 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $36,701,000 after buying an additional 12,162 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Argan by 10.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,656 shares of the construction company's stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 84.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,457 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Cardinal Capital Management lifted its position in Argan by 1.2% during the second quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 29,062 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Argan in the second quarter worth approximately $397,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 10,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total transaction of $962,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,852 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,448,962.40. The trade was a 21.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $481,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,332 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,670,631.48. This trade represents a 22.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,703 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,794. Company insiders own 11.85% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Argan Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Argan stock traded up $0.89 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $155.94. 122,927 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 173,053. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $39.74 and a one year high of $165.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.04 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $130.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.49.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The construction company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.34. Argan had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $227.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $191.05 million. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 60.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This is an increase from Argan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. Argan's payout ratio is 47.17%.

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.