John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Decreases Stake in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lowered its position in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. owned about 0.18% of Astec Industries worth $1,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASTE. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Astec Industries by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 19,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $856,000 after buying an additional 1,743 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Astec Industries by 54.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,874 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $554,000 after buying an additional 4,513 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in Astec Industries by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 19,626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $844,000 after buying an additional 2,420 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Astec Industries by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,042,268 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $173,816,000 after buying an additional 178,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Astec Industries by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,341,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,675,000 after buying an additional 28,651 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASTE opened at $42.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $972.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.10 and a beta of 1.38. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $40.40 and a 200 day moving average of $37.61. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.97 and a 1-year high of $56.33.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The industrial products company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $337.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $332.33 million. Astec Industries had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 2.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.34 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Astec Industries, Inc. will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.