Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $1,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 3,790.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in AZZ by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 202.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of AZZ by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 225.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 2,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AZZ shares. Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target 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 investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, AZZ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.67.

AZZ Trading Up 1.4 %

AZZ stock opened at $90.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.92, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.95%.

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.