Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $1.10 Million Stock Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas cut its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 59.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,356 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 12,315 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.06% of Argan worth $1,096,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Farther Finance Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 419.4% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 374 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 1,123.5% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 416 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 859 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $138,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AGX shares. Kepler Capital Markets downgraded Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Lake Street Capital boosted their price target on Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Director James W. Quinn sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.92, for a total transaction of $8,316,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,442,531.44. This represents a 70.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 7,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.03, for a total value of $1,688,316.12. Following the sale, the director directly owned 50,636 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,242,711.08. This represents a 13.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,404 shares of company stock valued at $18,221,387 over the last 90 days. 6.69% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Argan Stock Down 4.2%

AGX stock traded down $9.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $204.23. 723,847 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 357,883. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 28.64 and a beta of 0.54. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $63.53 and a 1-year high of $246.60. The company's fifty day moving average price is $206.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.05.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The construction company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.51. Argan had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 29.61%. The company had revenue of $193.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $193.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. Argan's revenue was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 23rd. Argan's payout ratio is currently 21.04%.

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.