Deutsche Bank AG Acquires 27,325 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 145.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 46,091 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,325 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.15% of AZZ worth $3,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of AZZ by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the last quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $509,000. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $1,008,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of AZZ by 36.3% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,379 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $1,421,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total transaction of $1,694,893.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,607 shares in the company, valued at $17,317,295.37. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on AZZ. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Sidoti upgraded shares of AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.71.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AZZ opened at $92.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of 62.62, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. 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 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $85.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.79.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The firm had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.78 million. Research analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is 42.77%.

AZZ 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.