Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Short Interest Up 17.0% in August

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 438,900 shares, an increase of 17.0% from the August 15th total of 375,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 153,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. SG Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 100.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 209,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,165,000 after acquiring an additional 105,280 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 86,969 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 251.0% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 96,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,217,000 after buying an additional 68,991 shares in the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 41.0% in the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 175,738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,212,000 after buying an additional 51,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 190.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 65,883 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,880,000 after buying an additional 43,211 shares during the period. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Astec Industries Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ASTE traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $31.77. The stock had a trading volume of 118,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 149,198. Astec Industries has a 12-month low of $28.46 and a 12-month high of $50.37. The firm has a market cap of $723.24 million, a P/E ratio of 28.87 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 2.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.27.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.11). Astec Industries had a positive return on equity of 6.56% and a negative net margin of 0.18%. The firm had revenue of $345.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $332.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.