Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires New Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,150 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 124,392 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in AZZ by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $90,999,000 after acquiring an additional 29,306 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in AZZ by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $72,279,000 after acquiring an additional 142,215 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in AZZ by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $28,854,000 after acquiring an additional 64,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,084 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $24,419,000 after purchasing an additional 52,281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. 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 report on Monday, June 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.00.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AZZ traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $111.87. The stock had a trading volume of 323,589 shares, compared to its average volume of 221,613. The company's 50-day moving average price is $94.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $113.58.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $421,962 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $435.91 million. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This is a positive change from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.27%.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total transaction of $2,309,227.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,160,013.04. This trade represents a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.