Cardinal Capital Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Cardinal Capital Management lowered its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 11.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 27,080 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 3,430 shares during the quarter. Cardinal Capital Management owned about 0.20% of Argan worth $7,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Argan by 721.8% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,881 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,128,000 after buying an additional 6,922 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $794,000. Strategic Blueprint LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $383,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Argan by 11.8% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,883 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,129,000 after acquiring an additional 833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Argan by 4.2% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 7,605 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,054,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, December 1st. Glj Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $251.00 to $369.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Lake Street Capital cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, UBS Group set a $315.00 price target on Argan in a report on Monday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.20.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.37, for a total transaction of $3,093,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 21,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,498,626.22. This trade represents a 32.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James W. Quinn sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.04, for a total transaction of $328,040.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 29,693 shares of company stock worth $8,905,608 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $314.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.99 and a beta of 0.64. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $335.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.53. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $101.02 and a 1 year high of $399.30.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The construction company reported $2.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $251.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $251.50 million. Argan had a return on equity of 31.38% and a net margin of 13.11%.The firm’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.00 EPS.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 23.56%.

Argan Profile

Argan, Inc (NYSE: AGX) is a holding company that provides professional technical and management services to the power generation and renewable energy industries. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company delivers engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM), commissioning and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a broad range of energy facilities. Argan focuses on projects for utility, industrial and municipally owned clients, helping to bring efficient thermal and renewable energy plants into operation and maintain optimal performance over the asset life cycle.

The company’s principal subsidiaries include Gemma Power Systems, which specializes in turnkey construction of combined-cycle, simple-cycle, cogeneration and renewable energy plants; Atlantic Projects Company, which provides electrical balance-of-plant, control systems, instrumentation and commissioning services; and Infrastructure Solutions, which offers industrial maintenance, outage support and modification services.