Sovereign s Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 10,945 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $897,000.
Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in AZZ by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,861,000 after buying an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at $509,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in AZZ by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 157,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $13,004,000 after buying an additional 10,038 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in AZZ by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,379 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at $1,008,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Insider Buying and Selling at AZZ
In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total value of $1,694,893.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 192,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,317,295.37. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
AZZ has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sidoti raised AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. B. Riley upped their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial restated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Three 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $100.71.
Get Our Latest Analysis on AZZ
AZZ Price Performance
NYSE AZZ traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $89.50. The company had a trading volume of 206,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 224,356. AZZ Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.59 and a 52 week high of $99.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.47, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.
AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The business had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.78 million. Equities research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.
AZZ Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. AZZ's payout ratio is currently 42.77%.
AZZ Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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