Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Astec Industries from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Astec Industries Price Performance

Shares of ASTE opened at $37.10 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.90. The stock has a market cap of $845.88 million, a PE ratio of -463.69 and a beta of 1.30. Astec Industries has a 1-year low of $28.46 and a 1-year high of $44.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $291.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.90 million. Astec Industries had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a positive return on equity of 7.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.01) EPS.

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -649.92%.

Institutional Trading of Astec Industries

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ASTE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Astec Industries by 1.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,684 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,637,000 after purchasing an additional 29,421 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Astec Industries by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 875,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,952,000 after purchasing an additional 26,256 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 581,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,247,000 after buying an additional 41,800 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Astec Industries by 4.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 569,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,180,000 after buying an additional 22,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvey Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Astec Industries by 101.4% during the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 282,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,007,000 after buying an additional 142,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

About Astec Industries

Astec Industries, Inc designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets equipment and components used primarily in road building and related construction activities worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions. The Infrastructure Solutions segment offers asphalt plants and related components, heaters, concrete dust control systems, asphalt pavers, vaporizers, concrete material handling systems, screeds, heat recovery units, paste back-fill plants, asphalt storage tanks, hot oil heaters, bagging plants, fuel storage tanks, industrial and asphalt burners and systems, custom batch plants, material transfer vehicles, soil stabilizing-reclaiming machinery, blower trucks and trailers, milling machines, soil remediation plants, wood chippers and grinders, pump trailers, concrete batch plants, control systems, liquid terminals, storage equipment and related parts, construction and retrofits, polymer plants, and concrete mixers, as well as engineering and environmental permitting services.