AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $98.13 and last traded at $97.87, with a volume of 105535 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $95.55.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AZZ. Roth Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. B. Riley boosted their price target on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $87.70 and a 200 day moving average of $83.29. 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 company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 65.51, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AZZ by 3,790.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of AZZ by 202.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in AZZ by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in AZZ by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is 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.