Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Short Interest Up 9.1% in April

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 418,400 shares, an increase of 9.1% from the March 31st total of 383,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 128,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Astec Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 11th.

Astec Industries Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASTE opened at $33.77 on Thursday. Astec Industries has a 52 week low of $28.97 and a 52 week high of $56.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $768.03 million, a P/E ratio of 22.97 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.35.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.47). Astec Industries had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The business had revenue of $309.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $343.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Astec Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Astec Industries will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Astec Industries’s payout ratio is presently 35.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASTE. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 65,426.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 473,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $22,319,000 after buying an additional 473,033 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the third quarter valued at $13,107,000. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $3,884,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,131,271 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,083,000 after buying an additional 86,969 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 989.7% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 92,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,366,000 after buying an additional 84,176 shares in the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.