AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Position Decreased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 77,221 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,699 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $6,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in AZZ by 69.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 7.7% in the second quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 3,298 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in AZZ by 38.6% in the 2nd quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in AZZ by 3.3% in the second quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 11,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 3,790.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE AZZ opened at $94.07 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.27 and a 12-month high of $97.98. The company has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $80.98.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $409.50 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. AZZ’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZZ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.80.

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.