Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Short Interest Update

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total value of $124,192.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,977,037.48. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,491,050.55. This represents a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359. 11.85% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Argan

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Argan in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $488,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Argan by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 107,825 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,888,000 after buying an additional 23,168 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the second quarter valued at about $665,000. Creative Planning boosted its stake in Argan by 70.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 10,095 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 4,179 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Argan by 76.2% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,552 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $918,000 after purchasing an additional 5,430 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Trading Down 2.2 %

Argan stock opened at $133.74 on Tuesday. Argan has a 12-month low of $44.35 and a 12-month high of $191.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $151.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $119.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98 and a beta of 0.56.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The company had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.60 million. The business’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 was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.38%.

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.