Argan (NYSE:AGX) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.74 EPS

Argan (NYSE:AGX) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The construction company reported $2.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.74, Briefing.com reports. 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 14.80% and a net margin of 6.11%. Argan’s quarterly revenue was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Price Performance

NYSE AGX traded down $0.16 on Thursday, hitting $148.82. The company had a trading volume of 368,561 shares, compared to its average volume of 175,932. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 46.85 and a beta of 0.53. Argan has a 12-month low of $39.74 and a 12-month high of $165.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $133.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $96.27.

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a $0.375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Argan’s payout ratio is 47.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, Director James W. Quinn sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.68, for a total value of $896,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 70,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,315,444.96. This represents a 12.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,670,631.48. This trade represents a 22.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 11.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Lake Street Capital downgraded shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $150.00 in a report on Tuesday.

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.