GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes $854,000 Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,513 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $854,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Cardinal Capital Management grew its position in Argan by 0.4% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 31,086 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,078,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Argan by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,042 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $545,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Argan by 1.2% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,756 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,067,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 11,100 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AGX. Lake Street Capital increased their price target on Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Kepler Capital Markets cut shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, July 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $202.00.

Argan Trading Down 8.0%

Shares of AGX stock opened at $225.32 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $63.53 and a 1-year high of $253.79. The company has a market capitalization of $3.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.12.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The construction company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.51. Argan had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 29.61%. The business had revenue of $193.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 22.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.04%.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 7,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $222.03, for a total value of $1,688,316.12. Following the transaction, the director owned 50,636 shares in the company, valued at $11,242,711.08. The trade was a 13.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.56, for a total value of $469,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 31,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,371,751.68. The trade was a 5.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,564 shares of company stock worth $21,046,366. 6.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Argan 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.