Royce & Associates LP Lowers Position in Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX)

Royce & Associates LP cut its holdings in shares of Argan, Inc. (NYSE:AGX - Free Report) by 23.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing 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 quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 0.98% of Argan worth $13,384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,426 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 726,171 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $36,701,000 after purchasing an additional 12,162 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 131,987 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $6,668,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Argan in the 1st quarter valued at $95,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Argan by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,656 shares of the construction company's stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. 79.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Argan

In other Argan news, Director Rainer H. Bosselmann sold 4,598 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.01, for a total transaction of $602,383.98. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 236,745 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $31,015,962.45. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia Flanders sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.39, for a total transaction of $481,950.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,332 shares in the company, valued at $1,670,631.48. The trade was a 22.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,703 shares of company stock valued at $4,257,794 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.85% of the company's stock.

Argan Trading Down 8.4 %

Shares of NYSE AGX traded down $12.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $136.63. The company had a trading volume of 713,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,220. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $117.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.30. The stock has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.97 and a beta of 0.49. Argan, Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.74 and a 52-week high of $162.78.

Argan (NYSE:AGX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The construction company reported $1.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $227.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.05 million. Argan had a net margin of 6.11% and a return on equity of 14.80%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 60.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Argan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 23rd were given a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is an increase from Argan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 23rd. Argan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Argan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th.

Argan Company 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.