Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 9,391 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its position in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 215,424 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,391 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.72% of AZZ worth $18,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $223,584,000 after buying an additional 124,392 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,999,000 after buying an additional 29,306 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,279,000 after buying an additional 142,215 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,854,000 after purchasing an additional 64,023 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,419,000 after purchasing an additional 52,281 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total transaction of $2,309,227.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 211,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,160,013.04. This represents a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on AZZ. Wall Street Zen raised shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Sidoti cut shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.00.

AZZ Stock Down 0.0%

AZZ opened at $111.87 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $94.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.51 and a quick ratio of 1.10. AZZ Inc. has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $113.58.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $421,962 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is 9.27%.

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.