Quadrature Capital Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,754 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd owned 0.13% of Argan worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGX. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Seizert Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $280,000. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. now owns 6,321 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $296,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Argan by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,918 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 1,093 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on shares of Argan from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 15,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total transaction of $899,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 14,150 shares in the company, valued at $848,858.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 15,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total transaction of $899,850.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 14,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $848,858.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director W G. Champion Mitchell sold 13,143 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.17, for a total transaction of $790,814.31. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,197 shares in the company, valued at $312,703.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,106 shares of company stock worth $4,662,427 over the last three months. 11.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $75.21 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $37.37 and a 1 year high of $78.95. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a PE ratio of 26.77 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.32.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The construction company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.06. Argan had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 13.22%. The business had revenue of $157.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.05) earnings per share. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 42.70%.

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.