AltraVue Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Argan, Inc. $AGX

AltraVue Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 247,542 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 5,030 shares during the period. Argan makes up approximately 5.5% of AltraVue Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. AltraVue Capital LLC owned approximately 1.79% of Argan worth $66,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Argan during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Argan by 22.0% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 255 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Argan

In related news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,595 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.71, for a total transaction of $2,068,917.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,847 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,682.37. This represents a 45.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 11,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $379.15, for a total value of $4,187,332.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 49,939 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,934,371.85. The trade was a 18.11% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 55,915 shares of company stock valued at $20,182,794 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AGX. Lake Street Capital lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Zacks Research cut Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Argan in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $397.00 price objective on the stock. CJS Securities upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Glj Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $251.00 to $369.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $355.20.

Argan Price Performance

AGX stock opened at $438.21 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.02 and a 1-year high of $459.75. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $371.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.57. The company has a market capitalization of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.61 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 22nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.