AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) gapped up prior to trading on Monday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $74.80, but opened at $78.70. AZZ shares last traded at $77.04, with a volume of 95,351 shares trading hands.

The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a net margin of 5.63% and a return on equity of 13.15%. The business had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.67 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. AZZ’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.82%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZZ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Noble Financial cut shares of AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, B. Riley increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,055,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,322,000 after purchasing an additional 106,091 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4,165.2% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 410,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,694,000 after purchasing an additional 400,526 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 5.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 394,920 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,000,000 after purchasing an additional 18,948 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4,211.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 365,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,664,000 after purchasing an additional 357,110 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 37.2% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 282,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,886,000 after purchasing an additional 76,697 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AZZ Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $75.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

About AZZ

AZZ Inc provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in the United States, Canada, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, and India. The company operates through AZZ Metal Coatings and AZZ Precoat Metals segments. The AZZ Metal Coatings segment offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries.