Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Short Interest Update

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 732,800 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the January 15th total of 781,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 391,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days. Approximately 5.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,367 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,050. This trade represents a 17.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total value of $1,220,666.65. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,792 shares in the company, valued at $1,949,099.68. The trade was a 38.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359. 11.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Argan by 81.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 911,056 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,408,000 after acquiring an additional 409,948 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Argan in the fourth quarter worth about $23,064,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Argan by 21.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 672,579 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,170,000 after purchasing an additional 116,783 shares in the last quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Argan by 286.8% in the 4th quarter. Thames Capital Management LLC now owns 117,384 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $16,086,000 after purchasing an additional 87,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Argan by 80.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 186,437 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $25,549,000 after purchasing an additional 83,039 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. CJS Securities restated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Argan in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Lake Street Capital cut shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Argan Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE AGX opened at $144.92 on Wednesday. Argan has a fifty-two week low of $45.93 and a fifty-two week high of $191.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.32 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.38%.

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.