AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Raised to Strong-Buy at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• AZZ has been upgraded to a "strong-buy" rating by Wells Fargo & Company, indicating a positive outlook from analysts.
• AZZ's stock has an average target price of $110.86, with some analysts forecasting a potential upside of 25% from its recent trading levels.
• CEO Thomas E. Ferguson and COO Bryan Lee Stovall have recently sold shares in AZZ, indicating a 12.64% and 18.04% decrease in their ownership stakes, respectively.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Sidoti lowered AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded AZZ from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Noble Financial reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on AZZ from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.29.

AZZ Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of AZZ stock traded down $0.64 on Thursday, reaching $112.59. 60,058 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 264,488. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. AZZ has a fifty-two week low of $70.90 and a fifty-two week high of $117.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $103.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.85.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 16.40%.The firm had revenue of $421,962 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. AZZ's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. AZZ has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.750-6.250 EPS. On average, analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total transaction of $558,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 22,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,534,324.40. The trade was a 18.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,182 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,837 shares of company stock worth $5,195,318. Insiders own 1.77% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AZZ. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in AZZ by 554.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $20,629,000 after acquiring an additional 213,355 shares in the last quarter. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at approximately $16,818,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of AZZ by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $72,279,000 after purchasing an additional 142,215 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,612,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $223,584,000 after purchasing an additional 124,392 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently 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.