DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Takes $64,000 Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,358 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. Azarias Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Azarias Capital Management L.P. now owns 180,525 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,447,000 after purchasing an additional 7,382 shares during the last quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 116,613 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $5,456,000 after purchasing an additional 13,431 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,918 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 8,904 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $60.05 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $37.37 and a 52-week high of $62.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.92. The company has a market capitalization of $795.06 million, a PE ratio of 25.13 and a beta of 0.49.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 11th. The construction company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.14. Argan had a net margin of 5.64% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The business had revenue of $164.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $162.05 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.46) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 38.5% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on shares of Argan from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th.

About Argan

Argan, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, technical, and consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Industry Services, Industrial Fabrication and Field Services, and Telecommunications Infrastructure Services segments.