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

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 602,300 shares, a growth of 5.1% from the December 15th total of 573,000 shares. Currently, 4.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 317,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AGX. Lake Street Capital cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, CJS Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $150.00 price target on shares of Argan in a research report on Friday, December 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 7,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.29, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 38.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 10,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.05, for a total value of $1,460,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,185 shares of company stock worth $3,105,359. 11.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Argan

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Argan in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Argan during the third quarter valued at $56,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Argan during the 2nd quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $91,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE AGX opened at $185.75 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $114.46. Argan has a one year low of $43.44 and a one year high of $185.74. The firm has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 38.86 and a beta of 0.56.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.74. The company had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.60 million. Argan had a return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 56.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 23rd will be issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 23rd. Argan’s payout ratio is 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.