Zacks Research Upgrades Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) to Hold

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on ASTE. Wall Street Zen downgraded Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Astec Industries in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Astec Industries Price Performance

Shares of ASTE opened at $41.26 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $949.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.54, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.83. Astec Industries has a twelve month low of $39.38 and a twelve month high of $65.69. The company has a current ratio of 2.52, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.10). Astec Industries had a net margin of 1.26% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The business had revenue of $408.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $405.50 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Astec Industries will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Astec Industries in the 2nd quarter valued at about $212,732,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,433,501 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $77,176,000 after purchasing an additional 22,154 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 342,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,840,000 after purchasing an additional 45,203 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Astec Industries during the second quarter worth approximately $14,783,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries during the second quarter worth $13,538,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Astec Industries Company Profile

Astec Industries, Inc (NASDAQ: ASTE) designs, engineers, manufactures and services equipment used in the construction of infrastructure and the processing of aggregates. Its products support road building, asphalt production, concrete production, aggregate processing and related industrial applications.

The company’s product portfolio includes asphalt plants and related equipment, concrete plants, crushers, screens, feeders, material-handling systems, thermal-processing equipment and road-building machinery.