Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,506,781 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 44,669 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 6.61% of Astec Industries worth $51,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in Astec Industries by 802.5% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 731 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 66.4% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,165 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 264.6% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,483 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 1,802 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the 4th quarter valued at about $128,000. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Astec Industries from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

ASTE traded down $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $37.97. 130,108 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 153,895. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.04 and a 1 year high of $43.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $868.37 million, a P/E ratio of 57.53 and a beta of 1.40. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $40.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.54.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.42. The firm had revenue of $329.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $320.40 million. Astec Industries had a net margin of 1.15% and a return on equity of 10.72%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 EPS.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Astec Industries's payout ratio is presently 78.79%.

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.