Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.13 Million Stock Holdings in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 15.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,566 shares of the construction company's stock after buying an additional 2,027 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Argan worth $2,133,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 68.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,033 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $217,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AGX. CJS Securities restated a "market perform" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Lake Street Capital lowered shares of Argan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

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Insider Activity at Argan

In other news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 11,792 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,949,099.68. This represents a 38.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total value of $1,460,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,491,050.55. This trade represents a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359. Corporate insiders own 11.85% of the company's stock.

Argan Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AGX traded down $2.71 on Friday, hitting $113.57. The company had a trading volume of 474,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 458,522. The stock has a market cap of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $146.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.43. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $47.42 and a 1-year high of $191.46.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $225.60 million. Argan'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 1.32%. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.38%.

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.