AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Sets New 1-Year High at $88.11

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $88.11 and last traded at $87.64, with a volume of 14111 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $86.75.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Noble Financial raised AZZ from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on AZZ in a research report on Friday, June 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.75.

AZZ Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.28 and a 200-day moving average of $73.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.25.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.16. AZZ had a net margin of 7.22% and a return on equity of 17.08%. The firm had revenue of $413.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $403.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 4.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Tara D. Mackey sold 331 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $27,638.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,229 shares in the company, valued at $2,858,121.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 1,511 shares of company stock worth $52,794 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AZZ during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in AZZ by 69.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AZZ during the first quarter worth about $77,000. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new position in AZZ in the first quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of AZZ by 253.0% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,026 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

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.