JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 15,681 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,819 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,681 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.28% of Argan worth $3,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 81.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 911,056 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,408,000 after buying an additional 409,948 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,245,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth $6,687,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Argan by 72.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 114,224 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $11,586,000 after purchasing an additional 47,881 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,783,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total transaction of $124,192.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,977,037.48. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total transaction of $1,314,660.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 219,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,606,257.90. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,290 shares of company stock worth $4,420,019 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AGX shares. CJS Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Lake Street Capital downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE:AGX opened at $177.64 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.42. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $43.44 and a 52-week high of $181.37. The company has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.16 and a beta of 0.56.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.74. Argan had a return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.60 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.38%.

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.