Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 1,284 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,092 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,284 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in AZZ were worth $819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 4,165.2% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 410,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,694,000 after purchasing an additional 400,526 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in AZZ by 4,211.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 365,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,664,000 after acquiring an additional 357,110 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ during the third quarter worth about $5,216,000. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 37.2% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 282,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,886,000 after acquiring an additional 76,697 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballast Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,065,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Noble Financial lowered AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 22nd.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ opened at $72.70 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.59 and a 12-month high of $84.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.28.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The firm had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.83%.

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.