Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,238,877 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,925 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.84% of AZZ worth $265,329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 11,261 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $923,000 after acquiring an additional 704 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at about $475,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 16,745 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,372,000 after buying an additional 1,767 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 63,111 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,170,000 after buying an additional 5,145 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Global Investments grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 5,370 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $440,000 after buying an additional 2,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have weighed in on AZZ shares. B. Riley lifted their target price on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.71.
Read Our Latest Analysis on AZZ
AZZ Price Performance
AZZ stock traded up $8.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $84.17. The stock had a trading volume of 236,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 250,486. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.87, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's fifty day moving average is $89.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26.
AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
AZZ Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.
AZZ Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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