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

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

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

Astec Industries Stock Up 0.1 %

Astec Industries stock opened at $34.99 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $797.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -437.32 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.68. 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 fifty-two week low of $28.46 and a fifty-two week high of $44.74.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ASTE. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings 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 holdings 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 in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Astec Industries during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

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.