AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Stock Holdings Boosted by Creative Planning

Creative Planning lifted its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 74.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,963 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,974 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in AZZ were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $11,860,000 after acquiring an additional 153,339 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,443,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted 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 valued at $9,435,000 after purchasing an additional 93,420 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in AZZ by 1,822.5% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 72,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,612,000 after buying an additional 68,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in AZZ during the second quarter worth approximately $4,969,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on AZZ shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on AZZ in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Baird R W raised AZZ to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of AZZ from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.80.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $81.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.23. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.83 and a 1-year high of $88.67. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.81.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $409.50 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 18.19% and a net margin of 7.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 4.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total transaction of $1,233,270.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,800. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.