Meritage Portfolio Management Raises Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,277 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Argan were worth $1,163,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Argan by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,862 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,605,000 after buying an additional 846 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Argan by 362.2% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,969 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,894 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Argan by 26.7% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,977 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 839 shares during the period. Tcfg Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the first quarter worth about $415,000. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management increased its stake in Argan by 0.4% during the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 31,086 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $4,078,000 after purchasing an additional 111 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 brokerages have issued reports on AGX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, July 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on Argan from $236.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Glj Research initiated coverage on Argan in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $220.25.

Argan Price Performance

AGX stock opened at $256.28 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $241.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.47. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $101.02 and a 12 month high of $283.35. The company has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.80 and a beta of 0.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.51. Argan had a net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. The firm had revenue of $237.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $243.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.31 EPS. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 23rd will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Argan’s payout ratio is currently 18.03%.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director James W. Quinn sold 13,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total transaction of $3,618,049.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 49,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,340,278.40. This represents a 21.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 11,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.73, for a total transaction of $3,242,363.46. Following the transaction, the director owned 38,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,668,864.82. The trade was a 23.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 91,027 shares of company stock worth $23,954,396 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

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.