GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Shares in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,247 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Astec Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at about $564,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 32,236 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Astec Industries by 44.4% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $630,000 after buying an additional 4,113 shares during the period. Olympiad Research LP purchased a new stake in Astec Industries during the third quarter worth approximately $294,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Astec Industries by 989.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 92,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,366,000 after acquiring an additional 84,176 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ASTE. StockNews.com lowered shares of Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Thursday.

Astec Industries Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ ASTE opened at $32.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $736.32 million, a P/E ratio of 29.71 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.97 and a 52 week high of $56.33.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $309.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.27 million. Astec Industries had a return on equity of 7.44% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Astec Industries, Inc. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

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

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.