KBC Group NV Takes Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

KBC Group NV acquired a new position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 675 shares of the construction company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 1.8% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,796 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Argan by 68.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,033 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Argan by 5.2% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,616 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,077,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 21.5% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,009 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Lake Street Capital downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, CJS Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 9,367 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,050. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total value of $1,220,666.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,949,099.68. The trade was a 38.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Argan Trading Down 0.3 %

Argan stock opened at $161.67 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of 33.82 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $121.70. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.69 and a 12 month high of $191.46.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The company had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.60 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio 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.