Two Sigma Advisers LP Acquires Shares of 18,419 Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 18,419 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $619,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned 0.08% of Astec Industries at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Astec Industries by 802.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $128,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Astec Industries by 200.9% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,213 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the period. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Astec Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Astec Industries from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Astec Industries Price Performance

Shares of ASTE opened at $39.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $911.25 million, a PE ratio of -498.06 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 2.47. Astec Industries, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.46 and a fifty-two week high of $42.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.61.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $329.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $320.40 million. Astec Industries had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a positive return on equity of 7.69%. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 earnings per share.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio is presently 78.79%.

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.