Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $54.35 Million Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 19.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 650,072 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 105,723 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 2.17% of AZZ worth $54,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of AZZ by 554.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $20,629,000 after acquiring an additional 213,355 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of AZZ by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,279,000 after acquiring an additional 142,215 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,612,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AZZ by 4.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,500,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on AZZ shares. Noble Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen raised AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Sidoti lowered AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.00.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ opened at $108.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.90 and a 52 week high of $114.49.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $421,962 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 16.40%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total value of $2,939,298.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,305,724.70. This represents a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.98, for a total value of $539,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 27,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,992,017.82. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company's stock.

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.

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