104,911 Shares in AZZ Inc. $AZZ Purchased by Nuveen LLC

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in AZZ Inc., purchasing 104,911 shares valued at approximately $8.77 million, making it a significant institutional investor with 0.35% ownership in the company.
• AZZ's stock has received multiple upgrades from analysts, with Wells Fargo giving it a "strong-buy" rating, while the average consensus target price has been set at $112.29.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.20, marking a rise from the previous amount of $0.17, reflecting positive financial performance.

Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 104,911 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $8,772,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.35% of AZZ at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,749 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter worth about $5,052,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in AZZ by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 53,402 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,375,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in AZZ by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $90,999,000 after purchasing an additional 29,306 shares during the period. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in AZZ by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 17,934 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,469,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on AZZ shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Zacks Research cut shares of AZZ from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Sidoti cut shares of AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.29.

AZZ Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of AZZ stock traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $115.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 118,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,004. AZZ Inc. has a one year low of $70.90 and a one year high of $117.35. The company has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 1.30. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $106.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.80. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. AZZ has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.750-6.250 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a positive change from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AZZ's payout ratio is 9.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total value of $2,939,298.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,182 shares in the company, valued at $20,305,724.70. This represents a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 22,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,534,324.40. This represents a 18.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 46,837 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,318. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company's stock.

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.