AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 767,000 shares, a decrease of 16.6% from the March 15th total of 920,100 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 264,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. B. Riley increased their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price target for the company. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AZZ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.71.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $223,584,000 after purchasing an additional 124,392 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of AZZ by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $90,999,000 after purchasing an additional 29,306 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in AZZ by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,279,000 after buying an additional 142,215 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AZZ by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in AZZ by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,854,000 after buying an additional 64,023 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Price Performance

AZZ stock opened at $80.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. AZZ has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $99.49. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $86.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.31.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $351.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.78 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. As a group, analysts predict that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.