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

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $100.67.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AZZ. Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 Mkm began coverage on shares of AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,823,000 after purchasing an additional 10,072 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE AZZ opened at $82.24 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $90.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. AZZ has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm 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 revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

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.