Argan (NYSE:AGX) Trading Down 5.5% – What’s Next?

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)’s stock price dropped 5.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $142.00 and last traded at $140.44. Approximately 76,114 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 491,562 shares. The stock had previously closed at $148.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. CJS Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Argan in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Lake Street Capital cut shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Argan Trading Down 1.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.88 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $150.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.92.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total value of $1,220,666.65. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,949,099.68. The trade was a 38.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,050. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359. Company insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGX. Entropy Technologies LP boosted its position in Argan by 108.6% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,104 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 3,699 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 37,819 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,836,000 after acquiring an additional 15,681 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $1,373,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Argan by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,905,000 after acquiring an additional 16,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Mutual Asset Management boosted its position in Argan by 195.6% during the third quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management now owns 10,050 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,650 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.