Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.13

Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTE) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 29th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th.

Astec Industries has increased its dividend by an average of 5.7% per year over the last three years. Astec Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 16.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Astec Industries to earn $2.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.6%.

Astec Industries Price Performance

NASDAQ ASTE opened at $33.79 on Thursday. Astec Industries has a 12-month low of $28.97 and a 12-month high of $56.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.98. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $769.06 million, a P/E ratio of 31.00 and a beta of 1.40.

Astec Industries (NASDAQ:ASTE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.81 by ($0.47). Astec Industries had a return on equity of 7.44% and a net margin of 1.91%. The business had revenue of $309.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $343.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Astec Industries will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ASTE shares. StockNews.com downgraded Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded Astec Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $37.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Michael Paul Norris acquired 1,000 shares of Astec Industries stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $33.46 per share, for a total transaction of $33,460.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 15,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $531,545.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% 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.