Argan (NYSE:AGX) Director William Leimkuhler Sells 4,212 Shares of Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Director William Leimkuhler sold 4,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.53, for a total value of $1,350,072.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 60,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,546,880.99. The trade was a 6.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of AGX stock opened at $317.87 on Thursday. Argan, Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.02 and a 1-year high of $399.30. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $335.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $276.73.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 22nd will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 22nd. Argan’s payout ratio is presently 23.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Argan by 14,436.3% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 329,393 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $72,624,000 after purchasing an additional 327,127 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Argan by 696.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 296,988 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $65,480,000 after buying an additional 259,720 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Argan by 1,142.2% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 188,665 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $41,597,000 after buying an additional 173,477 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 168.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $55,862,000 after buying an additional 159,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Argan by 172.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $50,687,000 after buying an additional 145,516 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AGX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Argan in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $397.00 target price on the stock. CJS Securities upgraded Argan to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group set a $315.00 target price on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Glj Research upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $251.00 to $369.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.20.

Argan Company Profile

Argan, Inc (NYSE: AGX) is a holding company that provides professional technical and management services to the power generation and renewable energy industries. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company delivers engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM), commissioning and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a broad range of energy facilities. Argan focuses on projects for utility, industrial and municipally owned clients, helping to bring efficient thermal and renewable energy plants into operation and maintain optimal performance over the asset life cycle.

The company’s principal subsidiaries include Gemma Power Systems, which specializes in turnkey construction of combined-cycle, simple-cycle, cogeneration and renewable energy plants; Atlantic Projects Company, which provides electrical balance-of-plant, control systems, instrumentation and commissioning services; and Infrastructure Solutions, which offers industrial maintenance, outage support and modification services.