David Hibbert Watson Sells 9,993 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total transaction of $6,507,641.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at $26,052,056.10. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

David Hibbert Watson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 16th, David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of Argan stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total transaction of $1,329,818.00.
• On Friday, April 17th, David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of Argan stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10.

Argan Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:AGX traded up $1.51 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $690.38. 382,211 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 408,659. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $648.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $480.56. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.82 and a fifty-two week high of $779.00. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 60.67 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Argan announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the construction company to purchase up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.57%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Argan to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $550.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Argan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $470.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the first quarter valued at about $25,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 2,950.0% in the first quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 61 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Argan in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.