Granite Investment Partners LLC Sells 3,439 Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

Granite Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,537 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,439 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in AZZ were worth $3,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,052,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 21.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,084 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,419,000 after purchasing an additional 52,281 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,749 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $799,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of AZZ by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 31,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,610,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE AZZ opened at $81.85 on Monday. AZZ Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $99.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 55.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.36.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.83%. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About AZZ

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.