StockNews.com Downgrades Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Astec Industries from a buy rating to a hold rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $47.00 to $37.00 in a report on Thursday.

Astec Industries Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of ASTE stock traded down $0.78 on Thursday, hitting $32.38. The stock had a trading volume of 459,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 161,951. The firm has a market cap of $736.32 million, a P/E ratio of 29.71 and a beta of 1.40. Astec Industries has a twelve month low of $28.97 and a twelve month high of $56.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.23.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.47). The business had revenue of $309.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.27 million. Astec Industries had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 7.44%. The firm’s revenue was down 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Astec Industries will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.61%. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASTE. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Astec Industries during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $564,000. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its holdings in Astec Industries by 15.9% during the third quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 4,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Astec Industries by 9.2% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 381,149 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,956,000 after purchasing an additional 32,236 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Astec Industries by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new stake in Astec Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at $294,000. 93.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.