Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Raises Stock Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 23.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 9,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,755 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 2nd quarter valued at about $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. bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter valued at about $116,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:AZZ opened at $86.47 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.82 and a 12 month high of $97.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.69. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.42, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The firm 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.80.

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.