Swiss National Bank Purchases 500 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Swiss National Bank grew its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in AZZ were worth $4,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AZZ. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AZZ by 13.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $266,284,000 after acquiring an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 27,710 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter worth $61,139,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in AZZ by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harvey Partners LLC increased its position in AZZ by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 666,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,018,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Trading Up 4.6 %

NYSE AZZ opened at $86.21 on Tuesday. 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 current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a PE ratio of 58.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day moving average of $90.53 and a 200 day moving average of $86.03.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Research analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.67.

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.