Driehaus Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 129,541 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $10,612,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC owned 0.43% of AZZ at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 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 acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in AZZ by 202.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in AZZ by 2,150.0% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in AZZ by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Noble Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $100.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 192,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,317,295.37. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AZZ traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $91.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 101,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,180. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $84.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market cap of $2.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The business had revenue of $351.88 million during 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ's payout ratio 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.