Insider Selling: Argan (NYSE:AGX) Director Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director James Quinn sold 1,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $328.04, for a total value of $328,040.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX traded up $4.66 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $330.43. The company had a trading volume of 394,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 417,646. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92 and a beta of 0.60. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $318.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $258.03. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.02 and a 1-year high of $399.30.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The construction company reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.35. Argan had a net margin of 13.11% and a return on equity of 31.38%. The business had revenue of $251.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $251.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.00 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AGX. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Lake Street Capital lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $325.00 in a report on Friday, December 5th. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $370.00 target price (up previously from $315.00) on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, UBS Group set a $315.00 price objective on Argan in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $355.20.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new stake in shares of Argan during the 1st quarter valued at $992,000. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Argan by 13.2% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,595 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after buying an additional 3,453 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Argan by 9.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 926,168 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $121,485,000 after buying an additional 82,585 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in Argan by 30.9% in the first quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 3,711 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $487,000 after acquiring an additional 876 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Argan in the first quarter worth about $551,000. 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.