Vise Technologies Inc. Makes New Investment in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,300 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,247,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth $434,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 6,787.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 50,000 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $18,898,000 after acquiring an additional 49,274 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al grew its position in Argan by 16.3% during the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 7,410 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. BOKF NA grew its position in Argan by 57.1% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 2,199 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 799 shares during the period. Finally, Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. grew its position in Argan by 117.1% during the third quarter. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. now owns 1,674 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $595,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Lake Street Capital upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler started coverage on Argan in a report on Tuesday, September 8th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $273.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Argan from $800.00 to $785.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $509.00.

Argan Trading Up 6.7%

NYSE AGX opened at $278.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $372.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $515.93. 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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $1.12. Argan had a net margin of 15.09% and a return on equity of 38.51%. The firm had revenue of $383.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 61.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Argan, Inc. will post 13.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 22nd. Argan’s payout ratio is 22.15%.

Argan Profile

Argan, Inc is a holding company that provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance services for the power generation and renewable energy industries. Its work supports the development, construction and improvement of utility-scale energy infrastructure.

Through its subsidiaries, Argan offers engineering and construction management, project development support, procurement, installation, startup and commissioning services. Its projects have included natural gas-fired power plants, solar and other renewable energy facilities, and related industrial and electrical infrastructure.

Argan’s principal operating businesses include Gemma Power Systems, which provides engineering, procurement and construction services for power generation and renewable energy projects, and Atlantic Projects Company, which provides engineering, project management and construction-related services.