Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lessened its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 23,093 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 321 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in AZZ were worth $1,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. FMR LLC lifted its position in AZZ by 13.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $266,284,000 after buying an additional 385,240 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 366.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 15,070 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,245,000 after acquiring an additional 11,841 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in AZZ by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,922,000 after acquiring an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Scalar Gauge Management LLC bought a new stake in AZZ during the third quarter worth about $1,900,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in AZZ by 225.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley upped their target price 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. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Down 2.0 %

AZZ stock opened at $84.08 on Friday. AZZ Inc. has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $99.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 56.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $90.44 and a 200 day moving average of $86.28.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors 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 0.81%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

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.