Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $5.16 Million Position in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 118,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 421 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.52% of Astec Industries worth $5,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in Astec Industries by 65,426.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 473,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,319,000 after purchasing an additional 473,033 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Astec Industries in the third quarter worth about $13,107,000. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Astec Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $3,884,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Astec Industries by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,131,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,083,000 after purchasing an additional 86,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in Astec Industries by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 222,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,268,000 after purchasing an additional 57,836 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Michael Paul Norris purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $33.46 per share, with a total value of $33,460.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 15,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,545.56. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASTE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $37.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Astec Industries Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ASTE traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.87. 16,731 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 149,771. The company has a market cap of $657.08 million, a P/E ratio of 26.95 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 2.51. Astec Industries, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.63 and a twelve month high of $56.33.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.47). Astec Industries had a net margin of 1.91% and a return on equity of 7.44%. The company had revenue of $309.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $343.27 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Astec Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Astec Industries, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.71%.

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.