AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) COO Sells $539,900.00 in Stock

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.98, for a total value of $539,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 27,709 shares in the company, valued at $2,992,017.82. The trade was a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

AZZ Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of AZZ traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $111.30. 187,696 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 221,481. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.08. AZZ Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.59 and a 52 week high of $113.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 16.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Sidoti downgraded shares of AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Monday, July 14th. Four 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth about $5,052,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AZZ by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in AZZ by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 55,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $4,571,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in AZZ by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 5,676 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp purchased a new stake in AZZ during the 4th quarter worth about $225,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

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.

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