Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,934,970 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 8,235 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.09% of Astec Industries worth $71,981,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASTE. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Astec Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in Astec Industries in the third quarter valued at $695,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Astec Industries by 65,426.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 473,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,319,000 after purchasing an additional 473,033 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Astec Industries by 34.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 108,542 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,113,000 after purchasing an additional 27,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Astec Industries during the 3rd quarter worth $564,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Astec Industries Stock Down 2.4 %

ASTE opened at $32.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company has a market cap of $736.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71 and a beta of 1.40. Astec Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $28.97 and a one year high of $56.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.23.

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

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Astec Industries’s payout ratio is currently 47.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $47.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Thursday.

Astec Industries Profile

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.