Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Sells 26,452 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. cut its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 62.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,030 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 26,452 shares during the quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.05% of AZZ worth $1,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of AZZ by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $10,772,000 after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares in the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at $509,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of AZZ by 36.3% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,379 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AZZ by 6.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 157,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,004,000 after purchasing an additional 10,038 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of AZZ stock traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $92.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 226,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 226,060. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.54. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49. The company has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 62.61, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.77%.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total transaction of $2,309,227.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,160,013.04. The trade was a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sidoti upgraded AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. B. Riley boosted their target price on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Noble Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.