Isthmus Partners LLC Cuts Stock Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Isthmus Partners LLC cut its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 64.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 32,776 shares during the period. Isthmus Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of AZZ worth $1,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in AZZ during the third quarter valued at approximately $61,139,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,284,000 after buying an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,798,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $5,052,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth about $4,037,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

AZZ Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $90.17 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.61. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.92, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.95%.

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.