American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 5,145 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,111 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 5,145 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.21% of AZZ worth $5,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AZZ. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in AZZ by 202.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in AZZ by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in AZZ by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in AZZ during the fourth quarter worth approximately $225,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

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AZZ Price Performance

AZZ stock traded up $8.59 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $84.17. The stock had a trading volume of 236,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,486. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.59 and a 52 week high of $99.49.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The business had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ's payout ratio is 45.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AZZ. Sidoti raised AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AZZ presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.71.

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.