Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Shares Sold by John G Ullman & Associates Inc.

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 41,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Astec Industries were worth $1,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Astec Industries by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,242,561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $192,782,000 after buying an additional 33,618 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Astec Industries by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,496,814 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $77,876,000 after buying an additional 44,174 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 24.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,777,218 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 354,483 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,463,882 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $60,384,000 after purchasing an additional 12,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 977,980 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,053,000 after purchasing an additional 31,850 shares in the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Astec Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 11th.

Astec Industries Trading Up 2.1 %

ASTE opened at $42.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.61. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.97 and a 1-year high of $56.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $972.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.38.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $337.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $332.33 million. Astec Industries had a net margin of 2.50% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. Analysts expect that Astec Industries, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Astec Industries’s payout ratio is presently 35.37%.

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.