Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 7,422 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 164,840 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,422 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.55% of AZZ worth $13,504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $266,284,000 after purchasing an additional 385,240 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in AZZ by 2.6% in 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 buying an additional 27,710 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in AZZ during the third quarter worth about $61,139,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvey Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.8% in the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 666,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,018,000 after acquiring an additional 12,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

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AZZ Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE AZZ traded up $1.25 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $96.26. 344,296 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 244,410. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $99.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.17.

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

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AZZ. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note 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 stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.67.

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.