Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Shares Sold by Essex Investment Management Co. LLC

Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lowered its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 26.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,490 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 13,088 shares during the period. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Argan were worth $5,001,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at $93,000. Amundi boosted its stake in Argan by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 859 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on AGX shares. CJS Securities restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Lake Street Capital downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,491,050.55. This represents a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 11,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,949,099.68. This represents a 38.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $113.57 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $130.43. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $47.42 and a one year high of $191.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its 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 net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The business had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.60 million. Argan’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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Argan’s payout ratio is 31.38%.

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.