Wakefield Asset Management LLLP Acquires New Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 12,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,008,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AZZ. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter worth $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of AZZ by 23.5% during 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 buying an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,772,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on AZZ. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZZ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.67.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of AZZ opened at $95.28 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $88.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. AZZ Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.59 and a twelve month high of $99.49. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

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.