Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Short Interest Up 16.2% in August

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 233,300 shares, an increase of 16.2% from the July 31st total of 200,700 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 77,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days.

Astec Industries Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of ASTE opened at $52.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 2.56. Astec Industries has a 52-week low of $31.04 and a 52-week high of $53.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.85 and a beta of 1.59. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.35 and its 200-day moving average is $43.99.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $350.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $348.74 million. Astec Industries had a return on equity of 8.62% and a net margin of 1.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Astec Industries will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. Astec Industries’s payout ratio is 47.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ASTE shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Astec Industries from $58.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Astec Industries from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Astec Industries in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Astec Industries from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th.

Institutional Trading of Astec Industries

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 157.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 674 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Astec Industries in the 1st quarter worth about $51,000. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its position in Astec Industries by 336.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,310 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Astec Industries by 156.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 831 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Astec Industries by 31.2% during the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,639 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.82% 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.