Short Interest in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Increases By 6.3%

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 420,400 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the September 30th total of 395,400 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 140,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Astec Industries Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ASTE opened at $31.78 on Friday. Astec Industries has a 52-week low of $28.46 and a 52-week high of $44.74. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $31.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.87. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by ($0.11). Astec Industries had a negative net margin of 0.18% and a positive return on equity of 6.56%. The company had revenue of $345.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $332.35 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. Astec Industries’s payout ratio is -519.95%.

Institutional Trading of Astec Industries

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASTE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 29,421 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 7.7% in the second quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 581,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,247,000 after acquiring an additional 41,800 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $10,327,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares during the period. SG Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $9,165,000 after purchasing an additional 105,280 shares during the period. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $5,212,000 after purchasing an additional 51,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

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.