Intech Investment Management LLC Grows Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,662 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $2,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $667,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 810.0% in the first quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 69,184 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,075,000 after purchasing an additional 61,581 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the first quarter valued at approximately $551,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Argan during the first quarter worth approximately $11,307,000. Finally, Delta Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Argan during the first quarter worth $536,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. UBS Group set a $315.00 target price on Argan in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Argan in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $397.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $301.00.

Argan Stock Performance

Argan stock opened at $353.09 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $291.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $240.62. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.02 and a 1 year high of $399.30. The company has a market capitalization of $4.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.44 and a beta of 0.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $243.97 million. Argan had a net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS.

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 23rd. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,493 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.39, for a total value of $1,911,474.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,913,577.83. The trade was a 39.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.37, for a total transaction of $3,093,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,006 shares in the company, valued at $6,498,626.22. This represents a 32.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 106,795 shares of company stock valued at $29,401,111. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

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.