Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Astec Industries from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASTE opened at $30.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.64. Astec Industries has a twelve month low of $28.46 and a twelve month high of $44.74. The company has a market capitalization of $706.34 million, a P/E ratio of -387.20 and a beta of 1.31.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Astec Industries

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 1,273,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,805,000 after buying an additional 11,541 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 3.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 875,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,952,000 after buying an additional 26,256 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 669,279 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,488,000 after buying an additional 35,690 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 4.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 569,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,180,000 after buying an additional 22,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 381,598 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,822,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.