Bank of America Corp DE Purchases 213,355 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 554.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 251,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 213,355 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.84% of AZZ worth $20,629,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in AZZ by 23.5% in the 4th 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 during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $509,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new position in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,008,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in AZZ by 36.3% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $359,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,421,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AZZ shares. B. Riley lifted their price target on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Sidoti raised AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm assumed coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.71.

AZZ Trading Down 0.0%

AZZ stock opened at $92.68 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.79. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $99.49. The company has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $351.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.78 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 24th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total transaction of $2,309,227.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,160,013.04. This represents a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.10% 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.