Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 18,432 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 10.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,528 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 18,432 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.23% of Argan worth $16,790,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Argan by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 7,923 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $804,000 after buying an additional 1,761 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $339,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Argan by 72.2% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 114,224 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $11,586,000 after buying an additional 47,881 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $866,000. Finally, Saturna Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at about $395,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Argan Price Performance

Shares of Argan stock opened at $147.12 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $135.32 and its 200 day moving average is $97.42. Argan, Inc. has a one year low of $39.74 and a one year high of $165.33. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.78 and a beta of 0.53.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.74. Argan had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 6.11%. The business had revenue of $257.00 million for 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.

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This is an increase from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 31.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.10, for a total transaction of $1,314,660.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 219,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,606,257.90. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,448,962.40. The trade was a 21.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,703 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,794. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Argan 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.