PharVision Advisers LLC Invests $297,000 in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 3,620 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in AZZ by 554.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,629,000 after purchasing an additional 213,355 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,279,000 after buying an additional 142,215 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter worth about $10,612,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $223,584,000 after acquiring an additional 124,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,500,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total value of $2,309,227.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,160,013.04. This represents a 11.28% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ opened at $90.22 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.34 and a 200-day moving average of $87.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.96, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.

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

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 24th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZZ has been the topic of several analyst reports. Sidoti upgraded AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.71.

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.