Argan (NYSE:AGX) Trading Down 5.5% – Time to Sell?

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)’s share price traded down 5.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $142.00 and last traded at $140.44. 76,114 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 491,562 shares. The stock had previously closed at $148.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Argan Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $150.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.32 and a beta of 0.56.

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. The business had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.60 million. Argan had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were paid a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total value of $1,220,666.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,949,099.68. This represents a 38.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359 over the last ninety days. 11.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Argan

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Argan by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 911,056 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,408,000 after purchasing an additional 409,948 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,064,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Argan by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 672,579 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $92,170,000 after buying an additional 116,783 shares in the last quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Argan by 286.8% in the 4th quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 117,384 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,086,000 after acquiring an additional 87,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 80.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 186,437 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,549,000 after acquiring an additional 83,039 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.