AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Receives $112.29 Average PT from Analysts

Key Points

• AZZ Inc. has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from ten brokerage firms, with several ratings changes reflecting a mix of buy, hold, and strong buy recommendations.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share, up from $0.17, resulting in a 0.7% dividend yield.
• In its latest earnings report, AZZ Inc. reported $1.78 EPS, exceeding analysts' expectations, although revenue was slightly below consensus estimates.

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $112.2857.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AZZ shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AZZ from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th.

AZZ Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of AZZ stock traded up $4.46 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.88. 221,782 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 207,227. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $110.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.13. AZZ has a twelve month low of $70.90 and a twelve month high of $119.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 1.30. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $421.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. AZZ has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.750-6.250 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This is a positive change from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AZZ's payout ratio is presently 9.27%.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total transaction of $2,939,298.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 183,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,305,724.70. This represents a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total value of $558,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 22,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,534,324.40. This represents a 18.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,837 shares of company stock worth $5,195,318 in the last 90 days. 1.77% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in AZZ during the second quarter worth approximately $2,950,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ in the second quarter worth $573,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 101,984 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,635,000 after buying an additional 7,194 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 182.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,995 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 1,934 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in AZZ by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,298 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.