David Hibbert Watson Sells 19,310 Shares of Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock

Key Points

• David Hibbert Watson, Argan's CEO, sold 19,310 shares on April 17 at an average price of $602.11 for a total of about $11,626,744, reducing his ownership by 27.86% to 49,998 shares.
• Argan posted a strong quarter—EPS $3.47 vs. $1.99 expected and revenue $262.05M—and the board approved a $200 million share buyback while declaring a $0.50 quarterly dividend (annualized $2.00, 0.3% yield).

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 19,310 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.11, for a total transaction of $11,626,744.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,104,295.78. The trade was a 27.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Argan Stock Performance

NYSE:AGX traded up $11.69 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $609.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 282,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,847. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $485.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $383.19. The company has a market capitalization of $8.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.58 and a beta of 0.46. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $126.07 and a 12 month high of $620.00.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The construction company reported $3.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $1.48. The business had revenue of $262.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $255.32 million. Argan had a return on equity of 33.62% and a net margin of 14.59%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Argan, Inc. will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 22nd. Argan's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.53%.

Argan announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 8th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the construction company to reacquire up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust acquired a new position in shares of Argan in the third quarter valued at about $14,138,000. Thames Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth about $11,175,000. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the third quarter worth about $971,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Argan by 125.3% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,505 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $3,377,000 after buying an additional 6,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Argan in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,629,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Argan in a research report on Monday, April 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Argan from $399.00 to $518.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Argan from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $550.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Argan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Argan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $425.40.

Argan Company Profile

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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