Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock Price Down 4.9% – What’s Next?

Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) were down 4.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $173.70 and last traded at $174.64. Approximately 83,866 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 394,470 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AGX. CJS Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Argan Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.75. The company has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 36.59 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total transaction of $1,220,666.65. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,949,099.68. This trade represents a 38.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total transaction of $1,460,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,491,050.55. The trade was a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 409,948 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Argan by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,905,000 after buying an additional 16,055 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 287,246 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $29,141,000 after buying an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Argan by 72.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 114,224 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $11,586,000 after acquiring an additional 47,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Argan by 27.4% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 107,825 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $7,888,000 after buying an additional 23,168 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% 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.