Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.13 Million Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 15.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,566 shares of the construction company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,027 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Argan worth $2,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Argan by 68.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,033 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $217,000. Finally, Nkcfo LLC bought a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $247,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. CJS Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th. Lake Street Capital downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Argan news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total transaction of $1,460,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,491,050.55. This trade represents a 16.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total transaction of $124,192.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,977,037.48. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX stock opened at $126.13 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $129.84. The company has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.39 and a beta of 0.56. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.97 and a fifty-two week high of $191.46.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Argan’s payout ratio is 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.