Keene & Associates Inc. Sells 14,128 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Keene & Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 74.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,845 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 14,128 shares during the period. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Argan were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Argan in the 1st quarter worth $95,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in Argan by 3,321.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,916 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $140,000 after purchasing an additional 1,860 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its position in Argan by 84.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,457 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan in the second quarter worth approximately $251,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Argan in the second quarter worth $258,000. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Argan news, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 15,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 44,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,449,830.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Chairman William F. Griffin, Jr. sold 1,885 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.31, for a total value of $147,614.35. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 175,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,760,554.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David Hibbert Watson sold 15,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.79, for a total value of $1,177,273.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 44,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,449,830.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,539 shares of company stock valued at $6,341,435 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Argan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Lake Street Capital increased their price objective on Argan from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th.

Argan Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Argan stock opened at $91.10 on Monday. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.74 and a 12-month high of $95.73. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.42 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $76.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.05.

Argan (NYSE:AGX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The construction company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.34. Argan had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The company had revenue of $227.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $191.05 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 60.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 23rd were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.70%.

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.