Rhumbline Advisers Has $7.15 Million Stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,228 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 5,247 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.29% of AZZ worth $7,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 379 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in AZZ by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services bought a new stake in AZZ during the 3rd quarter worth about $207,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its position in AZZ by 225.1% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp bought a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at about $234,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $96.37 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.37 and a 200-day moving average of $84.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target 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. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.