BNP Paribas Financial Markets Sells 20,546 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets reduced its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 54.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 20,546 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned approximately 0.06% of AZZ worth $1,420,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 13.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,284,000 after acquiring an additional 385,240 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 81,999.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 153,526 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,860,000 after purchasing an additional 153,339 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the second quarter worth about $8,443,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 325.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 122,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,435,000 after buying an additional 93,420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in AZZ by 1,822.5% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 72,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,612,000 after buying an additional 68,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AZZ opened at $95.40 on Monday. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.27 and a 12 month high of $97.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.89 and a 200-day moving average of $80.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $409.50 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.80.

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.