Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Position in AZZ Inc. $AZZ

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 19.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,057 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,997 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in AZZ were worth $3,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AZZ during the second quarter valued at about $340,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in AZZ by 42.3% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 3,975 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $376,000 after buying an additional 1,181 shares during the last quarter. SG Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in AZZ during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $16,818,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in AZZ by 96.1% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,917 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 7,680 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $726,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZZ has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AZZ from $128.00 to $121.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research cut AZZ from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.43.

AZZ Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:AZZ opened at $103.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 9.99 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.67. AZZ Inc. has a 1 year low of $70.90 and a 1 year high of $119.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 16th. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 7.69%.

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.