Graham Capital Management L.P. Takes $258,000 Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 3,153 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in AZZ by 39.0% during 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 last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 2,150.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on AZZ. Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Sidoti upgraded AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, AZZ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.71.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ stock traded down $2.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $90.22. The company had a trading volume of 164,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,447. AZZ Inc. has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $99.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $85.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.83.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $351.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $367.78 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. Research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 24th. AZZ's payout ratio is currently 42.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total transaction of $2,309,227.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,160,013.04. This trade represents a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.