American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 5,145 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 63,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,145 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in AZZ were worth $5,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 202.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in AZZ by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AZZ. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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 note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.67.

AZZ Price Performance

AZZ stock opened at $77.07 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.42. 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 $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 52.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. AZZ Inc. has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $99.49.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

AZZ Company 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.