Barclays PLC Sells 43,475 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Barclays PLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 65.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,866 shares of the construction company's stock after selling 43,475 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.17% of Argan worth $3,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Argan by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 843,583 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $115,605,000 after buying an additional 16,784 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 21.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 672,579 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $92,170,000 after acquiring an additional 116,783 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Argan by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 480,658 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $65,869,000 after buying an additional 73,654 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Argan by 37.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 295,349 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $40,475,000 after purchasing an additional 80,844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Argan by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 292,956 shares of the construction company's stock worth $40,156,000 after buying an additional 5,710 shares during the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Argan news, CFO Richard H. Deily sold 1,565 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.32, for a total value of $238,380.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 7,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,188,400.64. This represents a 16.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Peter W. Getsinger sold 2,292 shares of Argan stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.35, for a total value of $344,602.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,428,325. This represents a 19.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,857 shares of company stock worth $1,308,133 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Lake Street Capital upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th.

Argan Stock Performance

Shares of AGX stock traded up $4.96 on Friday, reaching $163.76. 397,078 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 306,434. The company has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26 and a beta of 0.41. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.98 and a 12-month high of $191.46. The business's 50 day moving average price is $132.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.91.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The construction company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.07. Argan had a return on equity of 21.66% and a net margin of 8.20%. The company had revenue of $232.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $197.50 million. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 41.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 22nd. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.55%.

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.