Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Sells 11,447 Shares of Astec Industries, Inc. $ASTE

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its stake in Astec Industries by 0.9% during the first quarter, now holding about 5.52% of the company, valued at approximately $43.5 million.
• The stock received a rating upgrade from buy to strong-buy from Wall Street Zen, while the consensus rating remains at Hold with an average target price of $41.00.
• Astec Industries announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $0.52 and a yield of 1.1%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL trimmed its holdings in shares of Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,262,510 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 11,447 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 5.52% of Astec Industries worth $43,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 669,279 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $22,488,000 after buying an additional 35,690 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 98.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 361,390 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $12,450,000 after buying an additional 179,618 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 282,394 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,728,000 after buying an additional 17,444 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 263,311 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $8,847,000 after purchasing an additional 34,039 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 234,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $8,089,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Astec Industries from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Astec Industries currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Astec Industries Stock Down 1.4%

NASDAQ ASTE traded down $0.68 on Friday, reaching $46.29. The company had a trading volume of 290,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 220,438. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26 and a beta of 1.43. The company's fifty day moving average is $41.88 and its 200 day moving average is $38.42. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.04 and a 52-week high of $47.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $330.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.00 million. Astec Industries had a return on equity of 11.52% and a net margin of 3.50%.

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Astec Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.13%.

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.