Janus Henderson Group PLC Lowers Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,885 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 8,199 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $899,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AZZ. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in AZZ by 325.3% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 122,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,435,000 after purchasing an additional 93,420 shares during the period. Delphi Management Inc. MA raised its position in shares of AZZ by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 23,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,830,000 after buying an additional 2,521 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in AZZ by 8.7% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 85,547 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,608,000 after acquiring an additional 6,847 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in AZZ by 81,999.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 153,526 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $11,860,000 after acquiring an additional 153,339 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in AZZ by 25.7% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 59,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,613,000 after acquiring an additional 12,226 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:AZZ opened at $93.75 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $85.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a PE ratio of 73.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.90 and a 12 month high of $97.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.32.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $409.50 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 7.63%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. Research analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.73%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.80.

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.