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

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) was downgraded by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $37.00 price objective on the industrial products company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $47.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 14.27% from the company’s previous close.

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

Astec Industries Stock Performance

NASDAQ ASTE traded down $0.78 during trading on Thursday, reaching $32.38. 459,410 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 161,951. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $736.32 million, a P/E ratio of 29.71 and a beta of 1.40. Astec Industries has a fifty-two week low of $28.97 and a fifty-two week high of $56.33.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.47). Astec Industries had a return on equity of 7.44% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business had revenue of $309.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $343.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Astec Industries will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTE. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Astec Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Astec Industries during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 41,600.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares during the period. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the first quarter valued at approximately $98,000. 93.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.