Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 9,391 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 215,424 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,391 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.72% of AZZ worth $18,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $223,584,000 after acquiring an additional 124,392 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 valued at $90,999,000 after acquiring an additional 29,306 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 valued at $72,279,000 after acquiring an additional 142,215 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in AZZ by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $28,854,000 after acquiring an additional 64,023 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in AZZ by 21.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,084 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $24,419,000 after acquiring an additional 52,281 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AZZ shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Sidoti cut AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Noble Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $108.00.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of AZZ stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $111.87. 323,589 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 221,613. The stock has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $94.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.03. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $113.58.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is an increase from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.27%.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total transaction of $1,694,893.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 192,607 shares in the company, valued at $17,317,295.37. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company's stock.

AZZ Company 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.