Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Astec Industries from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTE traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $38.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 157,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 150,545. The stock has a market capitalization of $887.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -486.31 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.41. Astec Industries has a fifty-two week low of $28.46 and a fifty-two week high of $44.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 2.47.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $291.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $312.90 million. Astec Industries had a positive return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 0.15%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.01) earnings per share.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 1.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,684 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,637,000 after purchasing an additional 29,421 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 7.7% during the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 581,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,247,000 after purchasing an additional 41,800 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 6.3% during the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 236,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,327,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. SG Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 100.8% during the first quarter. SG Capital Management LLC now owns 209,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,165,000 after purchasing an additional 105,280 shares during the period. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 41.0% during the second quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 175,738 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,212,000 after purchasing an additional 51,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

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.