Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Short Interest Update

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 438,900 shares, a growth of 17.0% from the August 15th total of 375,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 153,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Astec Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Astec Industries by 41,600.0% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Astec Industries in the first quarter worth about $66,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Astec Industries by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Astec Industries during the first quarter valued at approximately $85,000. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Astec Industries Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of ASTE stock opened at $31.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $723.24 million, a PE ratio of 29.15 and a beta of 1.27. Astec Industries has a 1 year low of $28.46 and a 1 year high of $50.37. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $345.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.35 million. Astec Industries had a positive return on equity of 6.56% and a negative net margin of 0.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS.

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.71%.

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.