Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 33.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,552 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 11,688 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of AZZ worth $1,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in AZZ in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in AZZ in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in AZZ by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in AZZ by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $10,772,000 after acquiring an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in AZZ by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $55,823,000 after acquiring an additional 10,072 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZZ has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Noble Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley upped their price target on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.67.

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AZZ Stock Down 1.7 %

AZZ stock traded down $1.44 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 610,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 236,590. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $99.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.84.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $394.30 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. AZZ's quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ's payout ratio is 45.95%.

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.