Inspire Investing LLC Makes New $782,000 Investment in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $782,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of AZZ in the 2nd quarter valued at $476,000. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of AZZ in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,075,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,971 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $699,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tredje AP fonden bought a new position in shares of AZZ in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,700,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZZ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on AZZ in a research note on Friday, June 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. B. Riley raised their target price on AZZ from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Noble Financial raised AZZ from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Baird R W raised AZZ to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on AZZ in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.80.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $81.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $79.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $77.95. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $43.48 and a 1-year high of $88.67. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.53, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.24.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.16. AZZ had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 7.22%. The firm had revenue of $413.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $403.25 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tara D. Mackey sold 331 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $27,638.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,858,121.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Tara D. Mackey sold 331 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $27,638.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,858,121.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total value of $1,233,270.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,695,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 1,511 shares of company stock worth $52,794 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.