MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 79 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,078 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 79 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of Argan worth $718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Argan in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan in the 3rd quarter valued at $43,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Argan during the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Argan in the 3rd quarter worth about $91,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Argan Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE AGX opened at $147.12 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a PE ratio of 30.78 and a beta of 0.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $135.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.42. Argan, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.74 and a 12 month high of $165.33.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The construction company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.74. Argan had a return on equity of 14.80% and a net margin of 6.11%. The business had revenue of $257.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.60 million. The firm’s revenue was up 56.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a dividend of $0.375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. This is a boost from Argan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is 31.38%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AGX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. CJS Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $150.00 target price on shares of Argan in a research report on Friday. Finally, Lake Street Capital cut shares of Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Quinn sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.68, for a total transaction of $896,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 70,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,315,444.96. This trade represents a 12.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 4,598 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.01, for a total value of $602,383.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 236,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,015,962.45. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,703 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,794 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Argan Profile

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.