Keene & Associates Inc. Has $447,000 Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Keene & Associates Inc. cut its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 32.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,263 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 1,542 shares during the quarter. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGX. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $93,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Argan by 68.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,033 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Argan Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of AGX stock opened at $144.92 on Wednesday. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.93 and a 12 month high of $191.46. The company has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 30.32 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $150.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.14.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.74. The business had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.60 million. Argan had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. Argan’s revenue was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.04%. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 800 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.24, for a total value of $124,192.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,050. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 20,185 shares of company stock valued at $3,105,359. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

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.