Short Interest in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Expands By 49.8%

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 393,800 shares, an increase of 49.8% from the May 15th total of 262,800 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 144,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASTE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Astec Industries from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,273,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,805,000 after buying an additional 11,541 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 22.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 819,913 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,247,000 after buying an additional 150,634 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 381,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,822,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Astec Industries by 98.8% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 361,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,450,000 after purchasing an additional 179,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Astec Industries by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 282,394 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,728,000 after purchasing an additional 17,444 shares during the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Astec Industries Trading Down 2.6%

NASDAQ ASTE opened at $40.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $915.82 million, a P/E ratio of -500.56 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $37.89 and its 200-day moving average is $35.75. Astec Industries has a one year low of $28.46 and a one year high of $42.79.

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

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Astec Industries’s 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.