Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Acquires New Shares in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 49,200 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $4,037,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.16% of AZZ as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AZZ. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Riverwater Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 15,155 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 13,119 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,084,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Harvest Investment Services purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Down 3.0 %

NYSE AZZ traded down $2.96 on Friday, hitting $94.70. 247,132 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 237,312. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $88.22 and a 200 day moving average of $84.32. AZZ Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.59 and a twelve month high of $99.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $403.65 million for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ's payout ratio is 45.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AZZ. Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley boosted their price target on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, 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 report 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.