Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Downgraded to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $37.00 price target on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their previous price target of $47.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.56% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Astec Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 11th.

Astec Industries Trading Down 19.2 %

NASDAQ ASTE opened at $33.77 on Thursday. Astec Industries has a twelve month low of $28.97 and a twelve month high of $56.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.42 and its 200 day moving average is $37.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $768.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.97 and a beta of 1.38.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.47). Astec Industries had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 2.50%. The company had revenue of $309.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. Astec Industries’s revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Astec Industries will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Astec Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Astec Industries in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 41,600.0% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,248 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Astec Industries in the first quarter worth $98,000. Finally, C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in Astec Industries in the third quarter valued at $123,000. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.