Analysts Set AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) PT at $100.71

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $100.71.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AZZ shares. B. Riley lifted their target price on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AZZ traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $91.20. 16,382 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 254,306. The company's 50 day moving average is $84.67 and its 200 day moving average is $86.90. AZZ has a one year low of $69.59 and a one year high of $99.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a PE ratio of 61.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The business had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $367.78 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 24th. AZZ's payout ratio is 42.77%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $1,694,893.41. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 110.0% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 399 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 202.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in AZZ by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 2,150.0% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.