This Metric Says You Are Smart to Buy AZZ Incorporated (AZZ)

Should an investor consider purchasing shares of AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ)?

At the moment, there are dozens of methods market participants can use to track their holdings. Two of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top investment managers can trounce their index-focused peers by a superb amount (see just how much).

Equally as useful, bullish insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the investments you’re interested in. There are many incentives for an executive to get rid of shares of his or her company, but only one, very clear reason why they would behave bullishly. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this tactic if shareholders know where to look (learn more here).

Thus, let’s study the latest info surrounding AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ).

Hedge fund activity in AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ)

At Q2’s end, a total of 17 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 6% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably.

When using filings from the hedgies we track, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the most valuable position in AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ). Royce & Associates has a $53.2 million position in the stock, comprising 0.2% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $5.9 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedge funds with similar optimism include Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

As industrywide interest increased, certain money managers have jumped into AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ) headfirst. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, initiated the most outsized position in AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ). Royce & Associates had 53.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $5.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new AZZ positions are Peter Algert and Kevin Coldiron’s Algert Coldiron Investors, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

What have insiders been doing with AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ)?

Insider buying is at its handiest when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past six months. Over the latest six-month time period, AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll also take a look at the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ). These stocks are Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR), Sims Metal Management Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:SMS), Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCHN), Matthews International Corp (NASDAQ:MATW), and Mueller Industries, Inc. (NYSE:MLI). This group of stocks are in the metal fabrication industry and their market caps are similar to AZZ’s market cap.

Using the results shown by our strategies, regular investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and AZZ Incorporated (NYSE:AZZ) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.

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