Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Invests $3.40 Million in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 41,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $3,400,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.14% of AZZ as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 389.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,458 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,250,000 after acquiring an additional 40,938 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in AZZ by 22.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,073 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,658,000 after purchasing an additional 3,673 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in AZZ by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 157,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,004,000 after buying an additional 10,038 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new position in AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,798,000. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter worth about $1,421,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total value of $2,309,227.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,160,013.04. This trade represents a 11.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AZZ Stock Up 4.3 %

AZZ traded up $3.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $90.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 232,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,534. The stock's 50-day moving average is $85.10 and its 200-day moving average is $86.65. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.23, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.78 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. As a group, research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. AZZ's payout ratio is 42.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AZZ. Noble Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Sidoti upgraded AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. B. Riley raised their price target on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.71.

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.