Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Raises Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,685 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in AZZ were worth $799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in AZZ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter worth $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in AZZ by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,772,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at $509,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total value of $2,309,227.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares in the company, valued at $18,160,013.04. The trade was a 11.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $90.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $85.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.61. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.23, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AZZ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.71.

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.