AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Short Interest Update

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 527,200 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the December 15th total of 497,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 187,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

AZZ Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $87.61 on Tuesday. AZZ has a 12-month low of $57.16 and a 12-month high of $97.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $87.76 and a 200-day moving average of $82.35. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in AZZ by 13.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,284,000 after purchasing an additional 385,240 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in AZZ by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,147,513 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,646,000 after buying an additional 53,188 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in AZZ by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,887,000 after buying an additional 27,710 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter worth about $61,139,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,823,000 after acquiring an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.80.

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.