Strs Ohio Sells 1,500 Shares of Argan, Inc. $AGX

Strs Ohio lowered its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 24.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,700 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Argan were worth $1,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Argan by 12.7% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management raised its position in Argan by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 5,277 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,163,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Argan by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 18,599 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,440,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Argan by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,067,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Argan by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 64,521 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,463,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $310.86 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $267.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $226.94. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $101.02 and a fifty-two week high of $331.01. The company has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.36 and a beta of 0.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 earnings per share.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.96, for a total value of $4,079,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,428 shares in the company, valued at $4,467,758.88. This represents a 47.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director James W. Quinn sold 13,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total value of $3,618,049.28. Following the sale, the director directly owned 49,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,340,278.40. This represents a 21.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 106,795 shares of company stock valued at $29,401,111. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AGX. UBS Group set a $315.00 price target on Argan in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Glj Research assumed coverage on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $251.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on shares of Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $258.20.

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.