Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE – Get Rating) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 376,900 shares, a drop of 10.6% from the August 15th total of 421,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 96,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company's shares are sold short.

Astec Industries Stock Down 2.2 %

Astec Industries stock opened at $35.41 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $41.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.42. The stock has a market cap of $809.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,770.50 and a beta of 1.40. Astec Industries has a 12-month low of $34.64 and a 12-month high of $75.00.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.33). The firm had revenue of $318.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $308.70 million. Astec Industries had a net margin of 0.03% and a return on equity of 3.72%. Astec Industries's revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Astec Industries will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Astec Industries Announces Dividend

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Astec Industries

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Astec Industries in the first quarter valued at about $179,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 40,575 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,810,000 after buying an additional 7,891 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 43,896 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $3,041,000 after buying an additional 17,236 shares during the period. IndexIQ Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 66.0% in the first quarter. IndexIQ Advisors LLC now owns 9,292 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 3,693 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Astec Industries by 15.7% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 226,175 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $9,726,000 after buying an additional 30,725 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.14% of the company's stock.

About Astec Industries

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Astec Industries, Inc designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets equipment and components used primarily in road building and related construction activities in the United States and internationally. 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.

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