David Hibbert Watson Sells 1,880 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Key Points

• Argan CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares on June 16 at an average price of $707.35, for proceeds of about $1.33 million. After the sale, he still owned 40,005 shares valued at roughly $28.3 million.
• This follows additional recent insider sales, including 9,993 shares sold on June 15 and 19,310 shares sold on April 17, indicating a pattern of trimming the CEO’s stake.
• Argan has posted strong fundamentals and shareholder returns, with quarterly EPS of $3.24 beating expectations and revenue rising 50.2% year over year. The company also authorized a $200 million share buyback and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share.

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 1,880 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $707.35, for a total transaction of $1,329,818.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,005 shares in the company, valued at $28,297,536.75. This represents a 4.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, June 15th, David Hibbert Watson sold 9,993 shares of Argan stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $651.22, for a total transaction of $6,507,641.46.
• On Friday, April 17th, David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of Argan stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10.

Argan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGX traded up $1.51 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $690.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 382,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,659. The company has a 50-day moving average of $648.21 and a 200-day moving average of $480.56. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $193.82 and a 12 month high of $779.00. The firm has a market cap of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.67 and a beta of 0.59.

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

Argan declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the construction company to buy up to 2.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 23rd. Argan's dividend payout ratio is 17.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AGX has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $470.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGX. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in Argan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,503,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Argan by 69.8% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 559,466 shares of the construction company's stock worth $151,084,000 after acquiring an additional 230,073 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Argan by 168.9% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 253,365 shares of the construction company's stock worth $55,862,000 after acquiring an additional 159,149 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Argan by 172.5% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 229,893 shares of the construction company's stock worth $50,687,000 after acquiring an additional 145,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,629,000. 79.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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