JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $549,000 Stake in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) by 1,348.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 8,602 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in AZZ were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZZ. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in AZZ by 364.0% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 2,255 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the period. Chatham Capital Group Inc. bought a new position in AZZ during the first quarter valued at $970,000. Mason Street Advisors LLC boosted its position in AZZ by 6.8% in the first quarter. Mason Street Advisors LLC now owns 6,069 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. bought a new position in AZZ during the first quarter valued at $133,000. Finally, AlphaOne Investment Services LLC boosted its position in AZZ by 5.9% in the first quarter. AlphaOne Investment Services LLC now owns 65,506 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after buying an additional 3,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.61% of the company’s stock.

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) traded down 0.20% during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.15. 63,017 shares of the stock were exchanged. AZZ Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.62 and a 12-month high of $67.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.69 and a beta of 1.57. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $53.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.66.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 6.44% and a return on equity of 10.98%. The business had revenue of $208.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.08 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post $2.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 14th. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 33.50%.

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Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BidaskClub cut shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. TheStreet lowered shares of AZZ from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of AZZ from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 7th.

In other AZZ news, Director H Kirk Downey sold 4,088 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.56, for a total transaction of $235,305.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,156 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $527,019.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas E. Ferguson acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $49.59 per share, for a total transaction of $247,950.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $2,431,744.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Company Profile

AZZ Inc is a provider of galvanizing services, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment and engineered services to the power generation, transmission, distribution, refining and industrial markets. The Company operates through two segments: Energy segment and Galvanizing segment. Its Energy segment provides products and services designed to support industrial, nuclear and electrical applications.