State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $1.98 Million Stock Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 24,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in AZZ were worth $1,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter worth about $61,139,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,284,000 after purchasing an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,798,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,037,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 389.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,458 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,250,000 after acquiring an additional 40,938 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AZZ Price Performance

NYSE AZZ opened at $94.70 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $88.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.48. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.99, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.30 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. AZZ’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. B. Riley increased their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.67.

AZZ Company Profile

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.