Argan (NYSE:AGX) Trading Down 4.6% – What’s Next?

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)’s share price fell 4.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $322.22 and last traded at $337.03. 346,557 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 413,268 shares. The stock had previously closed at $353.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Argan in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $397.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group set a $315.00 price target on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Argan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $301.00.

Argan Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $291.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $240.62. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 40.45 and a beta of 0.64.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 4th. The construction company reported $2.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $237.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $243.97 million. Argan had a net margin of 12.73% and a return on equity of 32.61%. Argan’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 23rd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 23rd. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other news, Director James W. Quinn sold 13,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $269.12, for a total transaction of $3,618,049.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 49,570 shares in the company, valued at $13,340,278.40. This trade represents a 21.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 6,493 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.39, for a total value of $1,911,474.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 9,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,913,577.83. This represents a 39.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 106,795 shares of company stock worth $29,401,111. Insiders own 6.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the first quarter valued at $667,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in Argan by 810.0% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 69,184 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,075,000 after buying an additional 61,581 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Argan during the first quarter worth about $551,000. Delta Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Argan in the first quarter worth $536,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Argan in the first quarter valued at $11,307,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.