Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Short Interest Up 22.1% in December

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 573,000 shares, an increase of 22.1% from the November 30th total of 469,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 309,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Currently, 4.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total transaction of $1,314,660.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 219,879 shares in the company, valued at $28,606,257.90. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total transaction of $1,460,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,491,050.55. This represents a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,703 shares of company stock worth $3,377,544 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Argan by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 112,979 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $8,266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,314 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the second quarter worth $1,060,000. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Argan during the second quarter valued at $258,000. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Argan by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,285 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Argan by 61.2% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 7,575 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,877 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Argan Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE AGX traded down $1.88 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $137.04. 272,680 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 183,896. Argan has a 52-week low of $43.44 and a 52-week high of $165.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $106.08.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 EPS 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.38%.

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.