Argan (NYSE:AGX) Stock Price Down 4.3% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Argan shares fell 4.3% to about $448.98 in mid-day trading, on volume 72% below the average session level. The stock remains below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: several firms recently downgraded the stock to “hold,” while the overall consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $470.40.
• Argan reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.24 and revenue of $290.95 million, surpassing estimates and increasing 50.2% year over year. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.50, while insiders sold roughly $87.6 million of stock in the latest quarter.

Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 4.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $450.19 and last traded at $448.9750. 108,805 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 383,374 shares. The stock had previously closed at $468.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGX has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research lowered Argan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Argan from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Lake Street Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Argan from $375.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Argan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Four investment 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 has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $470.40.

Argan Stock Down 4.1%

The firm's 50-day moving average price is $628.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 39.53 and a beta of 0.61.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 4th. The construction company reported $3.24 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $256.03 million. Argan had a return on equity of 36.89% and a net margin of 15.48%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 50.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Argan, Inc. will post 12.6 EPS for the current year.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 23rd were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Argan's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, CFO Joshua Scott Baugher sold 760 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.30, for a total value of $557,308.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1,479 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,550.70. The trade was a 33.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $760.43, for a total transaction of $15,208,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 40,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at $31,159,379.68. This represents a 32.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 127,973 shares of company stock valued at $87,554,828 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.99% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Argan

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Argan by 77,552.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 12,498,905 shares of the construction company's stock worth $9,981,001,000 after buying an additional 12,482,809 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Argan in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,764,086,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in Argan in the fourth quarter worth $137,503,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Argan by 32.1% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 791,353 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $431,010,000 after acquiring an additional 192,204 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Argan in the second quarter worth about $131,878,000. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company's stock.

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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