85,476 Shares in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Acquired by Norges Bank

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 85,476 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,002,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of AZZ by 2.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in AZZ by 9.9% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in AZZ by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,887,000 after buying an additional 27,710 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at about $61,139,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $391,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of AZZ opened at $75.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. AZZ Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.59 and a 52 week high of $99.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.79, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.29 and a 200-day moving average of $86.33.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on AZZ shares. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZZ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.67.

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.