AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Stake Raised by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 157,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,038 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.53% of AZZ worth $13,004,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. CWM LLC lifted its position in AZZ by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. Claro Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 7.7% during the second quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 3,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in AZZ by 3,790.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in AZZ by 11.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,971 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in AZZ by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 15,155 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $82.06 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.11, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.85. AZZ Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.78 and a twelve month high of $97.98. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.59.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 7.63%. The business had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $409.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. AZZ’s payout ratio is 53.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.80.

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.