Argan (NYSE:AGX) Trading Down 4.2% – What’s Next?

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)’s share price traded down 4.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $154.08 and last traded at $154.08. 102,121 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 41% from the average session volume of 172,690 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Argan Trading Down 3.6 %

The company has a market cap of $2.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.76 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $128.87 and its 200 day moving average is $93.69.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 5th. The construction company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.34. Argan had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 6.11%. The firm had revenue of $227.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $191.05 million. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 60.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were paid a $0.375 dividend. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is 47.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total transaction of $962,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,448,962.40. This represents a 21.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total value of $1,314,660.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 219,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,606,257.90. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,703 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,794. 11.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Argan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 409,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Argan by 1.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 726,171 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,701,000 after buying an additional 12,162 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Argan by 7.7% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 537,296 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,309,000 after buying an additional 38,300 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Argan by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $35,905,000 after acquiring an additional 16,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 305,298 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $22,336,000 after acquiring an additional 73,658 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Company Profile

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.