Short Interest in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Drops By 16.4%

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) saw a significant decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 920,100 shares, a decrease of 16.4% from the February 28th total of 1,100,000 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 248,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,279,000 after acquiring an additional 142,215 shares in the last quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AZZ by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Pullen Investment Management LLC now owns 19,126 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 6,007 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,514,000. PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $297,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 69,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,662,000 after buying an additional 9,531 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ stock traded up $1.66 on Wednesday, hitting $87.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 284,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 247,451. The stock has a market cap of $2.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $90.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. AZZ has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZZ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley increased their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

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.