Numerai GP LLC Has $1.54 Million Stake in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

Numerai GP LLC lowered its stake in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE - Free Report) by 43.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,772 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 34,512 shares during the quarter. Numerai GP LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Astec Industries worth $1,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ASTE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 38.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 56,586 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,807,000 after acquiring an additional 15,736 shares during the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 319.1% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 16,045 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 12,217 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,602 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 93.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ASTE. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Astec Industries from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Astec Industries from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th.

Astec Industries Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ ASTE traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 98,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 153,579. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.27. The stock has a market cap of $960.41 million, a P/E ratio of -524.93 and a beta of 1.40. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.46 and a 52 week high of $42.79. 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 (NASDAQ:ASTE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $329.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $320.40 million. Astec Industries had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a positive return on equity of 7.69%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Astec Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 78.79%.

Astec Industries 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.