AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $96.80.

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

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ opened at $85.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 57.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $87.73 and a 200-day moving average of $82.84. AZZ has a 52-week low of $62.43 and a 52-week high of $97.98.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced 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. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of AZZ by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,772,000 after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Finally, Delphi Management Inc. MA raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 11.9% in the second quarter. Delphi Management Inc. MA now owns 23,685 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 2,521 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.