Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. reduced its position in shares of Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) by 25.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Astec Industries were worth $60,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Astec Industries in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Astec Industries by 41,600.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,251 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 1,248 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Astec Industries in the first quarter worth about $66,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Astec Industries by 32.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Astec Industries in the first quarter worth about $85,000. 93.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

Shares of ASTE opened at $31.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Astec Industries, Inc. has a one year low of $28.46 and a one year high of $48.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $721.65 million, a PE ratio of 29.08 and a beta of 1.27.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The industrial products company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.72 by ($0.11). Astec Industries had a positive return on equity of 6.56% and a negative net margin of 0.18%. The company had revenue of $345.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $332.35 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Astec Industries Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Astec Industries’s dividend payout ratio is 47.71%.

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.