William Leimkuhler Sells 200 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director William Leimkuhler sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.47, for a total value of $67,494.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $303,723. The trade was a 18.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Argan Price Performance

Argan stock traded down $4.57 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $320.58. The stock had a trading volume of 201,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 411,501. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $328.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $267.37. Argan, Inc. has a 52 week low of $101.02 and a 52 week high of $399.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 37.76 and a beta of 0.60.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The construction company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.35. Argan had a net margin of 13.11% and a return on equity of 31.38%. The business had revenue of $251.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $251.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.00 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 22nd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of Argan by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 147 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Argan by 1.3% in the third quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $739,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 255 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC increased its position in shares of Argan by 4.8% in the third quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC now owns 1,350 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Argan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 4,036 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AGX shares. Zacks Research raised Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Glj Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $369.00 in a research note on Monday, November 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Argan in a report on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, CJS Securities upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Argan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $355.20.

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.