Versor Investments LP Cuts Stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Versor Investments LP lowered its position in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 30.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,200 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. Versor Investments LP owned 0.07% of Argan worth $673,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of AGX. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Argan during the 1st quarter worth $95,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Argan by 84.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,457 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Argan during the 2nd quarter worth $251,000. Seizert Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Argan during the 4th quarter worth $280,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Argan by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,656 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $286,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 13,115 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.66, for a total transaction of $1,044,740.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 157,604 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,554,734.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Argan news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 13,115 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.66, for a total transaction of $1,044,740.90. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 157,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,554,734.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 15,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.79, for a total transaction of $1,177,273.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 44,348 shares in the company, valued at $3,449,830.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 103,039 shares of company stock worth $7,712,880. 11.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AGX. Lake Street Capital increased their price target on shares of Argan from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th.

Argan Stock Down 8.5 %

Shares of AGX opened at $72.58 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.86. The company has a market capitalization of $969.23 million, a PE ratio of 25.83 and a beta of 0.51. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.74 and a 52-week high of $81.05.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, June 6th. The construction company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.06. Argan had a net margin of 6.08% and a return on equity of 13.22%. The firm had revenue of $157.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $134.75 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.05) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Argan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.70%.

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.