Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 41,944 Shares of AZZ Inc. $AZZ

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,196,933 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 41,944 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.69% of AZZ worth $267,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AZZ by 4.8% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 124,392 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings 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 valued at $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 142,215 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 650,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,353,000 after purchasing an additional 105,723 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,854,000 after purchasing an additional 64,023 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZZ has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $112.29.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE:AZZ opened at $113.02 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.10 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. AZZ Inc. has a twelve month low of $70.90 and a twelve month high of $117.35.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced 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 return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 16.40%. The firm had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AZZ’s payout ratio is presently 9.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total value of $2,939,298.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,305,724.70. The trade was a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.21, for a total value of $1,158,119.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,885,576.84. This trade represents a 38.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 46,837 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,318. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About AZZ

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.