AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Acquired by T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 124,392 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 9.13% of AZZ worth $223,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in AZZ by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,264 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,316,000 after buying an additional 1,882 shares during the last quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 69,566 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $5,699,000 after buying an additional 4,896 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 13,120 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 1,532 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in AZZ by 35.6% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,298 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in AZZ by 151.9% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 20,193 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 12,178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AZZ. Noble Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, B. Riley increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $100.71.

AZZ Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE AZZ traded up $0.15 on Tuesday, hitting $87.01. The company had a trading volume of 42,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 239,525. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.72, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.48.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.78 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ's payout ratio is currently 42.77%.

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.