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

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three 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. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $100.71.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.88, for a total value of $2,309,227.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,160,013.04. This represents a 11.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in shares of AZZ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in AZZ during the 4th quarter worth $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,861,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased 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 worth $10,772,000 after acquiring an additional 8,400 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter worth about $509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company's stock.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of AZZ opened at $90.62 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.70. 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 has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of 61.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.77%.

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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