MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Acquires 29,062 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 529,052 shares of the construction company's stock after acquiring an additional 29,062 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. owned 3.90% of Argan worth $72,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter valued at about $23,064,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 672,579 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $92,170,000 after buying an additional 116,783 shares during the period. Thames Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 286.8% during the fourth quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 117,384 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $16,086,000 after buying an additional 87,038 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Argan by 80.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 186,437 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $25,549,000 after buying an additional 83,039 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Argan by 37.7% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 295,349 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $40,475,000 after buying an additional 80,844 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Lake Street Capital upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th.

Argan Stock Up 2.7%

Shares of AGX stock traded up $4.98 during trading on Friday, hitting $188.30. The company had a trading volume of 430,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 314,742. The stock's 50-day moving average is $142.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.39 and a beta of 0.42. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $63.53 and a 52 week high of $191.46.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 27th. The construction company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.07. The company had revenue of $232.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.50 million. Argan had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. Argan's revenue for the quarter was up 41.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 1,565 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.32, for a total value of $238,380.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,188,400.64. This represents a 16.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.03, for a total value of $725,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,496 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,667,264.88. This represents a 30.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,857 shares of company stock worth $1,308,133. Insiders own 6.69% of the company's stock.

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.