Founders Capital Management Sells 100 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Founders Capital Management trimmed its position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 25.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 300 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Founders Capital Management’s holdings in Argan were worth $41,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AGX. Entropy Technologies LP raised its position in shares of Argan by 108.6% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,104 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 3,699 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Argan by 76.2% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,552 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,373,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Argan by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,905,000 after acquiring an additional 16,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Penn Mutual Asset Management increased its stake in Argan by 195.6% in the third quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management now owns 10,050 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,650 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were 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. This represents a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,050. This represents a 17.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 26,703 shares of company stock valued at $3,677,544. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Performance

AGX traded down $3.95 on Monday, hitting $155.47. 192,191 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 347,380. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $148.20 and its 200-day moving average is $110.27. The company has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a PE ratio of 32.53 and a beta of 0.56. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $43.44 and a 12 month high of $165.33.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.74. Argan had a net margin of 8.20% and a return on equity of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.60 million. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.