Short Interest in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Expands By 5.1%

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 602,300 shares, an increase of 5.1% from the December 15th total of 573,000 shares. Currently, 4.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 317,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In related news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,050. This trade represents a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total transaction of $124,192.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,977,037.48. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Argan

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Argan during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth $43,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Argan in the second quarter valued at $70,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at about $91,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE AGX opened at $177.64 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.30 and a 200-day moving average of $113.72. Argan has a fifty-two week low of $43.44 and a fifty-two week high of $181.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.16 and a beta of 0.56.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $225.60 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. CJS Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Argan in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Lake Street Capital downgraded 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th.

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.