Insider Selling: Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) CEO Sells $1,460,500.00 in Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total transaction of $1,460,500.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX stock opened at $139.33 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $142.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.83. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $43.44 and a one year high of $165.33.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.60 million. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Investors of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.38%.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Argan by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 911,056 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,408,000 after buying an additional 409,948 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Argan by 7.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 537,296 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,309,000 after acquiring an additional 38,300 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Argan by 31.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 305,298 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $22,336,000 after acquiring an additional 73,658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 287,246 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $29,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Lake Street Capital lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, CJS Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price target on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th.

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.