Public Sector Pension Investment Board Acquires 20,359 Shares of AZZ Inc. $AZZ

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in AZZ Inc. by 27.4%, now holding approximately $7.93 million worth of shares.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for AZZ, with Evercore ISI raising it from $90.00 to $108.00 and Wells Fargo upgrading the stock to a "strong-buy" rating.
• AZZ recently increased its quarterly dividend from $0.17 to $0.20, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 0.7%.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 27.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,790 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 20,359 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned about 0.32% of AZZ worth $7,925,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in AZZ by 554.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $20,629,000 after purchasing an additional 213,355 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 142,215 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter worth about $10,612,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in AZZ by 4.8% during 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 buying an additional 124,392 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in AZZ by 19.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 650,072 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $54,353,000 after buying an additional 105,723 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total transaction of $558,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 22,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,534,324.40. This represents a 18.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.21, for a total transaction of $1,158,119.41. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,804 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,885,576.84. This trade represents a 38.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,837 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,318 in the last quarter. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AZZ Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AZZ stock traded up $0.45 on Tuesday, hitting $113.40. The stock had a trading volume of 25,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 265,139. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $102.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ Inc. has a one year low of $70.90 and a one year high of $117.35.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.91 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 16.40%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. AZZ has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.750-6.250 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on AZZ shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Sidoti cut shares of AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $112.29.

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.