AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 47.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,746 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 38,307 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.14% of AZZ worth $3,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in AZZ by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in AZZ by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in AZZ by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in AZZ by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,151 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,072 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $90.62. 19,724 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 254,338. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $99.49. The business's 50 day moving average is $84.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The firm had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.78 million. On average, equities analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

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

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.