Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC Buys New Shares in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,202 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 2,987.5% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 247 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Argan in the second quarter worth approximately $71,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Argan in the first quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 16,640.0% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 837 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Argan by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,059 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AGX. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Glj Research initiated coverage on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. UBS Group set a $315.00 target price on Argan in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $258.20.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX stock opened at $310.86 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $226.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.36 and a beta of 0.64. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $101.02 and a 52-week high of $331.01.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.51. Argan had a return on equity of 32.61% and a net margin of 12.73%.The company had revenue of $237.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,493 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.39, for a total value of $1,911,474.27. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 9,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,913,577.83. This represents a 39.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.96, for a total transaction of $4,079,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,467,758.88. This trade represents a 47.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 106,795 shares of company stock worth $29,401,111. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Argan

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.