Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Astec Industries from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Astec Industries Price Performance

NASDAQ ASTE opened at $38.34 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $874.23 million, a P/E ratio of -479.25 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.57. Astec Industries has a fifty-two week low of $28.46 and a fifty-two week 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. Astec Industries had a positive return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 0.15%. The firm had revenue of $291.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.01) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently -650.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Astec Industries by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Astec Industries during the third quarter valued at about $45,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Astec Industries during the third quarter worth about $64,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Astec Industries during the first quarter valued at about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Astec Industries Company Profile

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.