Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 2,735 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,788 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 2,735 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $1,054,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Western Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the second quarter worth $38,000. GK Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at $77,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Argan from $800.00 to $785.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Freedom Broker upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Lake Street Capital upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Zacks Research lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Argan in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $273.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $544.00.

Argan Trading Down 2.8%

AGX stock traded down $8.75 during trading on Friday, reaching $306.59. The stock had a trading volume of 124,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,190. The firm has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $362.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $514.40. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.88 and a 52 week high of $805.75.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The construction company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $1.12. Argan had a return on equity of 38.51% and a net margin of 15.09%. The business had revenue of $383.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.53 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 61.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Argan, Inc. will post 13.72 EPS for the current year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 22nd were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 22nd. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Argan’s payout ratio is 22.15%.

Argan Profile

Argan, Inc. is a construction and engineering company focused primarily on power generation and related infrastructure. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides services that include engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and maintenance. Its Gemma Power Systems subsidiary develops and builds power plants, including natural gas-fired and renewable energy facilities. Atlantic Projects Company provides construction, commissioning, and maintenance services for power generation and industrial facilities, while SMC Infrastructure Solutions serves the electric utility sector with infrastructure construction services.