Norges Bank Takes $7 Million Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 85,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,002,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 0.29% of AZZ as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in AZZ by 9.9% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in AZZ by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,887,000 after acquiring an additional 27,710 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in AZZ in the third quarter valued at $61,139,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in AZZ in the third quarter valued at $391,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE:AZZ opened at $75.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.33. The stock has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.79, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.