AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) CEO Thomas E. Ferguson Sells 26,889 Shares

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total transaction of $2,309,227.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,160,013.04. The trade was a 11.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

AZZ Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of AZZ stock traded down $2.17 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $87.63. 53,069 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 226,222. The stock has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $99.49. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.80. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The firm had revenue of $351.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.78 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.77%.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in AZZ by 554.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $20,629,000 after buying an additional 213,355 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of AZZ by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 142,215 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in AZZ during the 4th quarter worth $10,612,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $223,584,000 after acquiring an additional 124,392 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,798,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AZZ shares. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Sidoti raised AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Four equities research 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 presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.71.

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.