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

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 732,800 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the January 15th total of 781,000 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 391,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Argan Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $144.92 on Wednesday. Argan has a 1 year low of $45.93 and a 1 year high of $191.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $150.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.14. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32 and a beta of 0.56.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.60 million. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,977,037.48. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total value of $1,460,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,491,050.55. This trade represents a 16.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359. 11.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Argan

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Entropy Technologies LP raised its holdings in Argan by 108.6% during the third quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,104 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 3,699 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Argan by 70.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 37,819 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,836,000 after buying an additional 15,681 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Argan during the third quarter valued at about $1,373,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Argan by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,905,000 after buying an additional 16,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Mutual Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Argan by 195.6% in the third quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management now owns 10,050 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,650 shares during the period. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AGX. Lake Street Capital lowered 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. CJS Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a 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.