Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Short Interest Up 22.1% in December

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 573,000 shares, an increase of 22.1% from the November 30th total of 469,200 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 309,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total transaction of $1,460,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 51,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,491,050.55. The trade was a 16.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total value of $1,314,660.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 219,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,606,257.90. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,703 shares of company stock worth $3,377,544 in the last quarter. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Entropy Technologies LP grew its stake in Argan by 108.6% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 7,104 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 3,699 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Argan by 76.2% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 12,552 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $918,000 after acquiring an additional 5,430 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Argan by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,905,000 after acquiring an additional 16,055 shares during the last quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Argan by 195.6% during the third quarter. Penn Mutual Asset Management now owns 10,050 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 6,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $395,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of AGX traded down $1.88 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $137.04. The company had a trading volume of 272,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 183,478. Argan has a one year low of $43.44 and a one year high of $165.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $144.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.66. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of 28.67 and a beta of 0.53.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $257.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.60 million. The firm’s revenue was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AGX. CJS Securities reiterated 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 report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lowered shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Argan Company Profile

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.