Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,238,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,925 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.84% of AZZ worth $265,329,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter worth about $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in AZZ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AZZ by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,772,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ opened at $77.07 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.42. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The business had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AZZ shares. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.67.

About AZZ

AZZ Inc provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in North America. It offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries, as well as to fabricators or manufacturers that provide services to the transmission and distribution, bridge and highway, petrochemical, and general industrial markets; and original equipment manufacturers.