AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Position Lowered by Jane Street Group LLC

Jane Street Group LLC lowered its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,884 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,519 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC owned about 0.06% of AZZ worth $1,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AZZ by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $223,584,000 after buying an additional 124,392 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in AZZ by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $90,999,000 after buying an additional 29,306 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in AZZ by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,279,000 after buying an additional 142,215 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in AZZ by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $28,854,000 after buying an additional 64,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its position in AZZ by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 311,938 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $25,852,000 after buying an additional 15,952 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of AZZ 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 in the company, valued at $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 through this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

AZZ Stock Down 0.0%

AZZ stock opened at $92.68 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 62.62, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.

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 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 24th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on AZZ. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Sidoti upgraded shares of AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, B. Riley lifted 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AZZ has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.

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