Jeffrey John Ronald Jr. 4

What Happened

• Jeffrey John Ronald Jr., a director of Argan, exercised stock options on Jan 16, 2026 and used a net-settlement method to acquire 8,636 shares (exercise price $45.75; value of shares acquired ~$395,097). The exercise involved 10,000 option shares that were surrendered (derivative disposition) at $45.75 per share (value $457,500).
• On Jan 20, 2026 he sold 2,700 shares on the open market at an average price of $380.60 per share, generating proceeds of approximately $1,027,620.
• The exercise resulted in a net acquisition of shares (purchase-like event) while the subsequent sale was an open-market disposition; both are reported on the Form 4.

Key Details

• Transaction dates and prices:
  • Jan 16, 2026: Exercised options for 10,000 shares at $45.75; net-settlement resulted in acquisition of 8,636 shares (total value of acquired shares ~$395,097) and surrender/disposition of 10,000 derivative shares (value $457,500).
  • Jan 20, 2026: Open-market sale of 2,700 shares at an average $380.60 (proceeds ~$1,027,620).
• Footnotes: F1 confirms the Jan 16 option exercise (award dated Dec 14, 2020) using net settle; F2 confirms the Jan 20 open-market sale and average sale price.
• Shares owned after the transactions: Not specified in the provided filing excerpt.
• Filing timeliness: Form filed Jan 21, 2026 covering activity through Jan 20, 2026; no late filing indicated in the supplied data.

Context

• Net-settlement/exercise explanation: Net settlement means some option shares were surrendered (or used to cover exercise cost/taxes) rather than paying cash; the filer ended up with 8,636 additional shares on exercise despite surrendering 10,000 underlying option shares.
• These disclosures are factual statements of transactions; they do not by themselves indicate the director’s motivations. Purchases (including net-acquired shares from option exercises) are often viewed as more informative about insider sentiment than routine sales, but no inference about intent should be made here.