AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• AZZ Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from eight research firms, with an average 1-year target price set at $108.00.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share, up from $0.17, reflecting a 0.7% dividend yield.
• During its last quarterly earnings, AZZ reported an EPS of $1.78, exceeding expectations and showing a year-over-year revenue growth of 2.1%.

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $108.00.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AZZ shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen raised AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Sidoti cut AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, June 9th.

AZZ Price Performance

NYSE:AZZ opened at $113.55 on Wednesday. AZZ has a one year low of $70.90 and a one year high of $114.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 13.16 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $101.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.91.

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

AZZ Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This is an increase from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. AZZ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.27%.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $1,467,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in AZZ by 6.0% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 31,034 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in AZZ by 1.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 69,668 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,582,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in AZZ by 3.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 84,599 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $7,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $340,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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