Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. We have ample financial flexibility to execute on our long-term strategic growth initiatives. We ended the quarter with a net leverage ratio of 1.4 times. Cash and cash equivalents were nearly $330 million and we had nearly full availability under our $400 million revolving credit facility. During the third quarter, we reduced term debt by approximately $140 million bringing our total long-term debt to around $650 million. We continue to generate strong free cash flow. For the first nine months of 2023, free cash flow exceeded $134 million, up from $101 million in the same period a year ago. Our focus on the cash conversion cycle throughout the organization and lower cash taxes paid in the period more than offset higher capital spending.
During the third quarter, we paid a $0.29 per share quarterly dividend. And for the first nine months of the year, dividend payments totaled $18.3 million. Moving now to our 2023 guidance. We continue to expect revenue to remain relatively flat compared to last year. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted earnings per share are now expected to be towards the lower end of our previous guidance ranges of $248 million to $256 million for adjusted EBITDA, and $6.70 to $7.10 for adjusted diluted earnings per share. In Sealing, we expect continued strong results, but lower sequentially in the fourth quarter given slowing demand in certain markets mentioned earlier and typical seasonality returning in certain parts of the segment. In AST, based on current orders and production schedules, we expect higher results sequentially in the fourth quarter.
Thanks for your time today, and I’ll turn the call back to Eric.
Eric Vaillancourt: Thank you, Milt. Our 3,500 colleagues across EnPro continue to execute very well and are energized to win. Our teams have navigated exceptionally well for a variety of market cycles in the past and today is no different. Our long-term strategic and financial plans remain unchanged. And day after day, we deliver differentiated products and solutions for our customers across several growing end markets. The Sealing segment performance has been remarkable, and our teams deserve praise for delivering best-in-class profitability while producing highly engineered solutions that enable safe, sustainable reliable operations for our customers. In AST, despite a challenging year, we are a critical part of the global semiconductor ecosystem and continue to invest in a variety of growth opportunities.
Our long-term growth trajectory remains intact, and we are focused on capitalizing on the investments we have made and we’ll continue to make throughout AST. Thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in EnPro. Now I’ll open the line to questions.
Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first questions come from the line of Jeff Hammond with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your questions.
Jeff Hammond: Hi, good morning, everyone.
Eric Vaillancourt: Good morning, Jeff.
Milton Childress: Good morning, Jeff.
Jeff Hammond: So just on AST, I guess, maybe a better sense of what the shape looks like into 4Q? And then just how maybe you’re thinking about the timing of recovery in inflection. I think you said weakness into ’24. So it seems like maybe that’s pushing out a little bit.
Milton Childress: Yes. Hi Jeff, let me jump in. Eric, and I’ll just go back and forth on this one. As I indicated in my prepared remarks, based on current orders and schedules, we’re expecting some sequential improvement in semiconductor markets in Q4. The outlook remains uncertain. And as you know, there has been pushing out in the industry, not just for us, but you’ve heard it from other companies as well as the year has progressed. And in the third quarter, we saw some additional pushing out just based on inventory in the system. So we’re expecting this progression and some improvement in the fourth quarter, and then we’ll need to see what the year brings. We do think things are pushed out to the right. It’s going to be uncertain for a quarter or two. We’ll see.
