Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys New Stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,150 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in AZZ by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in AZZ by 2,150.0% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in AZZ by 35.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at $211,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total value of $1,694,893.41. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 192,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,317,295.37. The trade was a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Trading Down 0.0%

AZZ stock opened at $111.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96 and a beta of 1.24. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $113.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.93 and its 200 day moving average is $89.98. 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 (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $435.91 million. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a positive change from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 9.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AZZ. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Sidoti lowered shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, June 9th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.00.

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.