Cerity Partners LLC Grows Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AZZ. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 2,150.0% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AZZ. Wall Street Zen upgraded AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Sidoti downgraded AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 9th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.00.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AZZ opened at $109.73 on Monday. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $113.58. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 1.24.

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

AZZ Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is a positive change from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AZZ

In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.98, for a total transaction of $539,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 27,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,992,017.82. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 211,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,160,013.04. The trade was a 11.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,256 shares of company stock valued at $7,483,319. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.