Sterling Capital Management LLC Has $493,000 Stock Holdings in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 56.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,022 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,949 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in AZZ by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,861,000 after buying an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in AZZ by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,772,000 after buying an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AZZ by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,823,000 after acquiring an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AZZ. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Sidoti raised AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZZ presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.71.

AZZ Stock Down 1.1 %

AZZ stock opened at $81.08 on Friday. AZZ Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.59 and a fifty-two week high of $99.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $87.61 and a 200-day moving average of $86.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.78, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.