Royce & Associates LP Sells 40,161 Shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its stake in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX) by 23.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 131,950 shares of the construction company’s stock after selling 40,161 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.98% of Argan worth $13,384,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Argan by 1.8% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,796 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Argan by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 29,062 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Argan by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 10,862 shares of the construction company’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Argan during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Argan by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 10,285 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $752,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.43% of the company’s stock.

Argan Trading Down 8.4 %

AGX opened at $136.63 on Friday. Argan, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.74 and a 12-month high of $162.78. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $117.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.10. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.97 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Argan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were paid a $0.375 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. Argan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Argan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Argan

In related news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 4,598 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.01, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William F. Leimkuhler sold 10,000 shares of Argan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.20, for a total value of $962,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,448,962.40. This represents a 21.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 39,703 shares of company stock worth $4,257,794. 11.85% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.