Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

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

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

Astec Industries Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASTE opened at $34.91 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.71. 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 has a 1 year low of $28.46 and a 1 year high of $44.74. The company has a market capitalization of $796.02 million, a PE ratio of -436.32 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Astec Industries

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 3.7% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 8,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Tompkins Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of Astec Industries during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 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.