Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Astec Industries, Inc. $ASTE

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Astec Industries by 2.9%, now owning approximately 2.48 million shares valued at $85.48 million as of the end of Q1.
• Astec Industries reported earnings per share of $0.88 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.60, despite revenue falling short of estimates at $330.3 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.1%, set to be paid on August 29th to investors of record as of August 11th.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE - Free Report) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,481,153 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 73,823 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.85% of Astec Industries worth $85,476,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 35,690 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Astec Industries by 14.8% during 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. Heartland Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Astec Industries by 27.1% during 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. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Astec Industries by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 219,528 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $7,376,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Astec Industries by 14.6% during the 1st quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 186,410 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,422,000 after purchasing an additional 23,718 shares in the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

Shares of ASTE stock traded down $0.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $46.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 29,765 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,022. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.27 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.73 and a 200-day moving average of $38.30. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.04 and a 52 week high of $47.94.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.28. The company 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 will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Astec Industries's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

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.