Sapient Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Sapient Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 51,393 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 4,235 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $7,043,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Spire Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter valued at about $56,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter worth about $91,000. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $93,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CJS Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $158.74 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.02. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 billion, a PE ratio of 33.21 and a beta of 0.56. Argan, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.69 and a 1 year high of $191.46.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Argan Company 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.