Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 6.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,038 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.53% of AZZ worth $13,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted 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 last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the second quarter worth about $52,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in AZZ by 51.2% during 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 period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $100,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of AZZ traded down $1.26 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.06. The company had a trading volume of 108,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,282. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.59. AZZ Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.78 and a 52-week high of $97.98. 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 (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $409.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $409.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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 note on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $96.80.

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.