Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,072 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.26% of AZZ worth $55,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AZZ by 3,790.0% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in AZZ in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AZZ during the second quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the second quarter worth about $100,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.80.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE:AZZ opened at $81.66 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of 63.80, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.85 and its 200 day moving average is $81.42. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $54.67 and a fifty-two week high of $97.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.85.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $409.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $409.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.13%.

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.