Farther Finance Advisors LLC Raises Stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $42,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 202.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter worth about $233,000. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter worth about $234,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AZZ shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Down 1.7 %

AZZ opened at $82.24 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $90.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.95. The company has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of 55.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. AZZ’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.95%.

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.