Crown Advisors Management Inc. Sells 10,000 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Key Points

• Crown Advisors Management Inc. reduced its stake in AZZ Inc. by 28.6%, now holding 25,000 shares, which is 1.8% of its total portfolio.
• AZZ recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.17 to $0.20, reflecting a yield of 0.7% and a payout ratio of 9.27%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on AZZ, with price targets ranging from $90 to $110, while the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $108.00.

Crown Advisors Management Inc. cut its stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. AZZ makes up 1.8% of Crown Advisors Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Crown Advisors Management Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of AZZ worth $2,090,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in AZZ by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 168,694 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $14,105,000 after purchasing an additional 3,854 shares during the period. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AZZ by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its stake in AZZ by 151.9% in the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 20,193 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 12,178 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in AZZ by 16,255.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,407 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,873,000 after purchasing an additional 22,270 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in AZZ in the 1st quarter worth $338,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE:AZZ traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $112.59. The stock had a trading volume of 366,646 shares, compared to its average volume of 267,351. AZZ Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.90 and a twelve month high of $117.35. The stock has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 1.30. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $102.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $421,962 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.91 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. AZZ's revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research 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 was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Noble Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Sidoti downgraded shares of AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZZ has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $112.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total transaction of $558,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 22,709 shares in the company, valued at $2,534,324.40. This trade represents a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total transaction of $2,939,298.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,305,724.70. This trade represents a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,837 shares of company stock worth $5,195,318 over the last three months. 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.