AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $104.00.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sidoti cut AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th.

AZZ Price Performance

AZZ stock opened at $89.07 on Tuesday. AZZ has a 12 month low of $69.59 and a 12 month high of $99.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a PE ratio of 56.02 and a beta of 1.25.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 8.17%. The business had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $367.78 million. Equities analysts predict that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th were given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 24th. AZZ's payout ratio is 42.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total value of $1,694,893.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 192,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,317,295.37. This represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in AZZ by 554.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $20,629,000 after purchasing an additional 213,355 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in AZZ by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 142,215 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at $10,612,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 4.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 124,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 19.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 650,072 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $54,353,000 after acquiring an additional 105,723 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

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.

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