AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.08% of AZZ worth $1,861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZZ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in AZZ by 3,790.0% in 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 period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 2nd quarter worth about $52,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in AZZ during the third quarter worth about $116,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.80.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ stock traded down $1.69 during trading on Friday, hitting $86.47. The company had a trading volume of 136,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,713. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $88.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 58.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.82 and a 1-year high of $97.98.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. AZZ's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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 will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

AZZ Profile

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.