Argan (NYSE:AGX) CEO Sells $6,507,641.46 in Stock

Key Points

• Argan CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares on June 15 for about $6.51 million, cutting his position by roughly 20%. The filing shows he still owned 40,005 shares afterward, worth about $26.05 million.
• The stock has been trading near $690.38, up slightly on the day, and remains well above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. Argan’s market cap is about $9.68 billion.
• Argan recently posted strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $3.24 beating expectations and revenue rising 50.2% year over year. The company also authorized a $200 million share repurchase plan and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total transaction of $6,507,641.46. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,052,056.10. The trade was a 19.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

David Hibbert Watson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 16th, David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of Argan stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total transaction of $1,329,818.00.
• On Friday, April 17th, David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of Argan stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10.

Argan Trading Up 0.2%

AGX stock traded up $1.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $690.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 382,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,659. The stock has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 60.67 and a beta of 0.59. Argan, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $193.82 and a fifty-two week high of $779.00. The company's 50 day moving average is $648.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $480.56.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.31 by $0.93. The company had revenue of $290.95 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $256.03 million. Argan had a net margin of 15.48% and a return on equity of 36.89%. Argan's quarterly revenue was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Argan announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to repurchase $200.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Argan's dividend payout ratio is 17.57%.

Institutional Trading of Argan

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,629,000. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $478,000. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 4th quarter valued at $2,748,000. Alpine Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $16,203,000. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $699,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised shares of Argan to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research cut shares of Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $470.40.

About Argan

Argan, Inc NYSE: AGX is a holding company that provides professional technical and management services to the power generation and renewable energy industries. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company delivers engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM), commissioning and operations and maintenance (O&M) services for a broad range of energy facilities. Argan focuses on projects for utility, industrial and municipally owned clients, helping to bring efficient thermal and renewable energy plants into operation and maintain optimal performance over the asset life cycle.

The company's principal subsidiaries include Gemma Power Systems, which specializes in turnkey construction of combined-cycle, simple-cycle, cogeneration and renewable energy plants; Atlantic Projects Company, which provides electrical balance-of-plant, control systems, instrumentation and commissioning services; and Infrastructure Solutions, which offers industrial maintenance, outage support and modification services.

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