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

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 451,100 shares, an increase of 11.2% from the October 31st total of 405,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 303,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days. Approximately 3.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Argan Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AGX traded up $1.61 on Monday, reaching $157.55. 175,084 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 173,036. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.68. Argan has a 52 week low of $39.74 and a 52 week high of $165.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.04 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Argan Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were issued a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This is a positive change from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 10,105 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 219,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,606,257.90. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total value of $481,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,670,631.48. This trade represents a 22.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,703 shares of company stock worth $4,257,794 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AGX. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Argan by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 911,056 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $92,408,000 after purchasing an additional 409,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 726,171 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $36,701,000 after purchasing an additional 12,162 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Argan by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 537,296 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $39,309,000 after purchasing an additional 38,300 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Argan by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 353,984 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $35,905,000 after purchasing an additional 16,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Argan by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 305,298 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $22,336,000 after purchasing an additional 73,658 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.