Argan (NYSE:AGX) Shares Down 8.6% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) traded down 8.6% on Monday . The company traded as low as $648.10 and last traded at $635.0090. 80,165 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 406,763 shares. The stock had previously closed at $694.72.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 27th. Lake Street Capital upped their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Trading Down 11.5%

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $636.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $469.11. The company has a market capitalization of $8.57 billion, a PE ratio of 54.15 and a beta of 0.58.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 17.57%.

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the construction company to repurchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 8,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $598.49, for a total value of $5,053,649.56. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,834,342.55. This represents a 16.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Edwin Iv Collins sold 11,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $621.61, for a total value of $6,879,979.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 30,320 shares in the company, valued at $18,847,215.20. This represents a 26.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 64,543 shares of company stock worth $39,054,956. 6.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Western Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Montag A & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Company Profile

Argan, Inc (NYSE: AGX) is a holding company that provides professional technical and management services to the power generation and renewable energy industries. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company delivers engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM), commissioning and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a broad range of energy facilities. Argan focuses on projects for utility, industrial and municipally owned clients, helping to bring efficient thermal and renewable energy plants into operation and maintain optimal performance over the asset life cycle.

The company’s principal subsidiaries include Gemma Power Systems, which specializes in turnkey construction of combined-cycle, simple-cycle, cogeneration and renewable energy plants; Atlantic Projects Company, which provides electrical balance-of-plant, control systems, instrumentation and commissioning services; and Infrastructure Solutions, which offers industrial maintenance, outage support and modification services.