Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock Price Down 4.3% – Here’s What Happened

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)’s stock price fell 4.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $450.19 and last traded at $448.9750. 108,805 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 383,374 shares. The stock had previously closed at $468.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AGX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered Argan from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $470.40.

Argan Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.31 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $618.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $583.32.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The business had revenue of $290.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 50.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is 17.57%.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 4,728 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.65, for a total value of $3,350,497.20. Following the sale, the director owned 6,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,512. The trade was a 40.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John Ronald Jr. Jeffrey sold 5,716 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $579.64, for a total transaction of $3,313,222.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,468,228.12. The trade was a 69.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last 90 days. 2.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amundi grew its holdings in Argan by 704.0% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 18,517 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $14,787,000 after purchasing an additional 16,214 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the second quarter valued at $5,087,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Argan by 77,552.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 12,498,905 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $9,981,001,000 after buying an additional 12,482,809 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $257,000. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter valued at $368,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

About Argan

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.