Nordea Investment Management AB Purchases New Shares in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 94,436 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $7,798,000. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.32% of AZZ at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $266,284,000 after acquiring an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,147,513 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $88,646,000 after purchasing an additional 53,188 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 27,710 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in AZZ in the third quarter worth about $61,139,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AZZ by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AZZ currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.80.

AZZ Price Performance

NYSE:AZZ traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $83.66. 184,531 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 235,538. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.85. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.49 and a 1-year high of $97.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 65.36, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $394.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. The business's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About AZZ

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.