Argan, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.38 (NYSE:AGX)

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be paid a dividend of 0.375 per share by the construction company on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd.

Argan has decreased its dividend by an average of 5.7% per year over the last three years. Argan has a payout ratio of 28.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE:AGX traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $142.96. The stock had a trading volume of 193,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 181,558. Argan has a twelve month low of $43.00 and a twelve month high of $165.33. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91 and a beta of 0.53.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.74. Argan had a return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.60 million. Argan’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on AGX. CJS Securities reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 target price on shares of Argan in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value of $962,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,852 shares in the company, valued at $3,448,962.40. This represents a 21.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 5,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total value of $481,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,670,631.48. This represents a 22.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,703 shares of company stock valued at $3,360,994. 11.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.