Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New $448,000 Investment in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,426 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of AZZ by 13.6% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in AZZ by 4.9% in the 2nd 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 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 27,710 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter worth about $61,139,000. Finally, Harvey Partners LLC grew its position in AZZ by 1.8% during the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 666,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,018,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ traded up $0.74 on Monday, hitting $94.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 135,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 226,633. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $85.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.12 and a 12 month high of $97.98. The firm has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $409.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $409.50 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 7.63%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.27 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.08 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AZZ presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $96.80.

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.