Ring Mountain Capital LLC Has $558,000 Stock Position in Argan, Inc. $AGX

Ring Mountain Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 19.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,700 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. Ring Mountain Capital LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Goodlander Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the first quarter valued at about $18,364,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the first quarter worth $11,307,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Argan by 9.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 926,168 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $121,485,000 after buying an additional 82,585 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the first quarter valued at about $9,958,000. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 258.0% during the first quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 101,181 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $13,272,000 after purchasing an additional 72,922 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 4,441 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.01, for a total value of $1,230,201.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,691 shares in the company, valued at $13,210,883.91. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 $4,467,758.88. This trade represents a 47.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 106,795 shares of company stock valued at $29,401,111. Corporate insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AGX. Glj Research began coverage on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $251.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, October 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $258.20.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE:AGX opened at $302.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.41 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $263.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $225.66. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $101.02 and a one year high of $320.00.

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

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 23rd were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.04%.

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.