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

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $96.80.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ stock opened at $86.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ has a 12 month low of $62.08 and a 12 month high of $97.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $88.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.78.

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

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in AZZ by 20.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 47,648 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after purchasing an additional 7,940 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 514.9% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 53,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 44,800 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in AZZ by 16.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 9,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $699,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in AZZ by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,971 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in AZZ during the 2nd quarter valued at $296,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.