Argan (NYSE:AGX) Trading Down 4.1% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) traded down 4.1% on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $123.40 and last traded at $124.02. 131,621 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 155,930 shares. The stock had previously closed at $129.30.

Specifically, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total transaction of $1,314,660.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 219,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,606,257.90. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 4,598 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.01, for a total transaction of $602,383.98. Following the sale, the director now owns 236,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,015,962.45. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Argan Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.09. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.31 and a beta of 0.53.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The construction company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.34. Argan had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The business had revenue of $227.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $191.05 million. The business’s revenue was up 60.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd will be paid a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 23rd. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGX. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Argan by 31.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 305,298 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $22,336,000 after buying an additional 73,658 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Argan during the second quarter worth about $5,245,000. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in Argan during the third quarter worth about $4,783,000. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in Argan during the second quarter worth about $3,168,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Argan during the second quarter worth about $3,166,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

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.