Royce & Associates LP Sells 628 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 1.3% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,842 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 628 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Argan were worth $6,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $333,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Argan during the 4th quarter valued at $1,220,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in Argan by 138.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 26,142 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 15,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Argan by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 843,583 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $115,605,000 after purchasing an additional 16,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $236.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.18 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $211.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $167.50. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.53 and a 52-week high of $246.60.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 4th. The construction company reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $193.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $193.75 million. Argan had a return on equity of 29.61% and a net margin of 11.00%. Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 23rd will be issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Argan’s payout ratio is 21.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AGX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Lake Street Capital raised their price target on Argan from $150.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Argan in a report on Monday, July 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $220.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets cut Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $202.00.

Insider Transactions at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 3,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $212.01, for a total transaction of $732,706.56. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,895 shares in the company, valued at $3,157,888.95. This represents a 18.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 13,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $221.58, for a total value of $3,041,850.24. Following the sale, the director owned 196,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,589,882.34. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,404 shares of company stock valued at $18,221,387 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.69% 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.