Bridgeway Capital Management LLC Sells 25,000 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Bridgeway Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 64.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,997 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 25,000 shares during the quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC's holdings in AZZ were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AZZ by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.1% in 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 boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,978,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $252,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ stock traded up $0.60 on Tuesday, reaching $94.04. The stock had a trading volume of 191,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,302. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $99.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. The firm's 50-day moving average is $84.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $351.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.78 million. On average, research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total value of $1,694,893.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 192,607 shares in the company, valued at $17,317,295.37. The trade was a 8.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

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.