R Squared Ltd Invests $42,000 in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE)

R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Harvey Partners LLC boosted its position in Astec Industries by 101.4% during the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 282,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,007,000 after purchasing an additional 142,000 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Astec Industries by 96.9% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 171,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,465,000 after purchasing an additional 84,202 shares in the last quarter. Mill Road Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Astec Industries during the third quarter worth approximately $2,467,000. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. boosted its position in Astec Industries by 64.3% during the third quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 134,314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,290,000 after purchasing an additional 52,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Astec Industries by 23.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 215,654 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,888,000 after purchasing an additional 41,130 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Astec Industries from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Astec Industries Price Performance

ASTE stock opened at $34.91 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $795.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -436.32 and a beta of 1.31. Astec Industries, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.46 and a 52-week high of $44.74.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $291.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $312.90 million. Astec Industries had a positive return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 0.15%. The company’s revenue was down 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share.

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.