Short Interest in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) Increases By 46.5%

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 226,500 shares, a growth of 46.5% from the May 31st total of 154,600 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 138,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AGX shares. StockNews.com lowered Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Lake Street Capital boosted their price objective on Argan from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th.

Argan Stock Down 0.2 %

AGX stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $73.16. 672,208 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 216,538. Argan has a 1-year low of $37.37 and a 1-year high of $78.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $69.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.37. The firm has a market cap of $976.69 million, a PE ratio of 26.04 and a beta of 0.45.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The construction company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.06. Argan had a return on equity of 13.22% and a net margin of 6.08%. The company had revenue of $157.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $134.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.05) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.85, for a total value of $1,921,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,958,455.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.85, for a total value of $1,921,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,958,455.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.99, for a total value of $899,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 14,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $848,858.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 69,106 shares of company stock worth $4,662,427 in the last three months. 11.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter worth $2,300,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter worth $1,257,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 120.9% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 45,260 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $2,118,000 after buying an additional 24,769 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter worth $708,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Argan by 360.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 18,005 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 14,092 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.