Argan (NYSE:AGX) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Separately, Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Argan from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX opened at $60.99 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $807.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.52 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day moving average of $49.73 and a 200 day moving average of $47.02. Argan has a fifty-two week low of $37.37 and a fifty-two week high of $62.04.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The construction company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.14. Argan had a net margin of 5.64% and a return on equity of 11.37%. The company had revenue of $164.55 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.05 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.46) earnings per share. Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 38.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 19th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in Argan during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Argan by 390.9% in the 2nd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,620 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $64,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter worth approximately $109,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Company Profile

Argan, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, maintenance, project development, technical, and consulting services to the power generation market. The company operates through Power Industry Services, Industrial Fabrication and Field Services, and Telecommunications Infrastructure Services segments.