Boston Partners Raises Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Boston Partners boosted its stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 311,938 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,952 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 1.04% of AZZ worth $25,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in AZZ by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in AZZ by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,151 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,978,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of AZZ by 202.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Finally, Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Up 4.6 %

NYSE:AZZ traded up $3.77 on Monday, hitting $86.21. The stock had a trading volume of 317,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 236,507. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $90.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. AZZ's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ's payout ratio is 45.95%.

AZZ Company 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.