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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Thursday.

Separately, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Astec Industries from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Astec Industries Stock Performance

Shares of Astec Industries stock traded down $1.75 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $30.98. The company had a trading volume of 121,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 143,594. The stock has a market cap of $706.34 million, a PE ratio of -387.20 and a beta of 1.31. Astec Industries has a 1-year low of $28.46 and a 1-year high of $44.74. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $33.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Institutional Trading of Astec Industries

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Astec Industries by 802.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 731 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 650 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Astec Industries by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 14,039 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp bought a new position in Astec Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Astec Industries by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 381,598 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $12,822,000 after buying an additional 1,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Astec Industries during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.16% of the company's stock.

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.