State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Takes $1.93 Million Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,103 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,933,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.10% of Argan at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 108.6% in the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,104 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 3,699 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 70.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 37,819 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,836,000 after purchasing an additional 15,681 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth $1,373,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,905,000 after purchasing an additional 16,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Mutual Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 195.6% in the third quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management now owns 10,050 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,650 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AGX. CJS Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Argan in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Lake Street Capital downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In related news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,050. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total transaction of $124,192.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,177 shares in the company, valued at $2,977,037.48. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $126.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 26.53 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $150.21 and a 200-day moving average of $127.56. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.15 and a 52-week high of $191.46.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.74. Argan had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.60 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.38%.

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.