AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $100.67.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AZZ shares. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. B. Riley raised their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. 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. Finally, Roth Mkm started coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in AZZ by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in AZZ by 202.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in AZZ by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 2,150.0% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $83.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.48, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. AZZ has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $90.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.84.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.95%.

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.