Argan (NYSE:AGX) Director Cynthia Flanders Sells 19,000 Shares of Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director Cynthia Flanders sold 19,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.70, for a total transaction of $7,347,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 26,207 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,134,246.90. This represents a 42.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX opened at $363.44 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $340.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.28. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.02 and a 1-year high of $400.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.81 and a beta of 0.64.

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

Argan Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AGX. UBS Group set a $315.00 price objective on Argan in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Lake Street Capital cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $260.00 to $325.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Argan in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Argan in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $397.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AGX. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Argan by 69.8% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 559,466 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $151,084,000 after purchasing an additional 230,073 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Argan by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 435,761 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $117,677,000 after buying an additional 4,027 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Argan by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 324,356 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $71,514,000 after buying an additional 5,575 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Argan by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 314,453 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $69,339,000 after buying an additional 11,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,582 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $80,632,000 after acquiring an additional 68,689 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.