AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Bought by T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 124,392 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned 0.09% of AZZ worth $223,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in AZZ by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,279,000 after buying an additional 142,215 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,798,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter worth $7,002,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in AZZ by 35.7% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 258,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $21,210,000 after acquiring an additional 68,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at $5,052,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. B. Riley increased 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. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.71.

AZZ Trading Up 1.8 %

AZZ stock opened at $81.53 on Thursday. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $86.53 and its 200-day moving average is $86.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.09, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.78 million. On average, equities analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 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.