Argan (NYSE:AGX) Trading Down 4.9% – Here’s Why

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) was down 4.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $173.70 and last traded at $174.64. Approximately 83,866 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 394,470 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Argan Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.26 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $153.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.82.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued 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 return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.60 million. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,050. The trade was a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,291 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359 in the last 90 days. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Argan

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Argan by 78.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,325 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $3,462,000 after buying an additional 20,853 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,166,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Argan during the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,628,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Argan in the second quarter valued at about $488,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

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.