Empowered Funds LLC Sells 17,080 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Empowered Funds LLC decreased its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 84.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,213 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 17,080 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in AZZ were worth $265,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of AZZ by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,726,037 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $210,750,000 after purchasing an additional 28,609 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 325.3% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 122,141 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,435,000 after acquiring an additional 93,420 shares during the period. Delphi Management Inc. MA boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 23,685 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,830,000 after acquiring an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in AZZ by 8.7% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 85,547 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,608,000 after acquiring an additional 6,847 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in AZZ by 81,999.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 153,526 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $11,860,000 after acquiring an additional 153,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Wolfe Research began coverage on AZZ in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.80.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AZZ traded down $3.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $92.24. The stock had a trading volume of 155,967 shares, compared to its average volume of 229,554. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of 72.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.32. AZZ Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.03 and a 52 week high of $97.98. The business's 50-day moving average price is $81.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.01.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $409.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $409.50 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 7.63%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. AZZ's payout ratio is presently 53.13%.

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.