Pullen Investment Management LLC Buys 253 Shares of AZZ Inc. $AZZ

Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,682 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Pullen Investment Management LLC owned about 0.07% of AZZ worth $1,860,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the second quarter valued at about $385,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 4.5% in the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 21,018 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 11.7% in the second quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 59,351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,607,000 after buying an additional 6,220 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 0.4% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 94,998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,964,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the second quarter valued at about $11,701,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE AZZ opened at $98.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $109.75 and a 200-day moving average of $100.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. AZZ Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.90 and a 1-year high of $119.95.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $129.87 million during the quarter. AZZ had a net margin of 19.69% and a return on equity of 15.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 16th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on AZZ. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of AZZ from $128.00 to $121.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of AZZ from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total value of $558,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 22,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,534,324.40. This trade represents a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.21, for a total transaction of $1,158,119.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 16,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,885,576.84. This represents a 38.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

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.