Cwm LLC Raises Stock Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Cwm LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 97.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 684 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in AZZ by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $223,584,000 after purchasing an additional 124,392 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in AZZ by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,999,000 after buying an additional 29,306 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in AZZ by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,279,000 after buying an additional 142,215 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in AZZ by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,854,000 after acquiring an additional 64,023 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,419,000 after acquiring an additional 52,281 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AZZ. Sidoti cut AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.98, for a total value of $539,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 27,709 shares in the company, valued at $2,992,017.82. This represents a 15.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total transaction of $2,939,298.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 183,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,305,724.70. This represents a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 50,367 shares of company stock worth $5,174,092. 1.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AZZ Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE:AZZ opened at $112.85 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. AZZ Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.59 and a twelve month high of $113.58. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s 50 day moving average is $97.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.34.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. AZZ’s payout ratio is 9.27%.

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.