AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Reaches New 52-Week Low - Here's Why

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $84.52 and last traded at $86.76, with a volume of 286435 shares. The stock had previously closed at $88.14.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AZZ. Noble Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $108.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Sidoti upgraded AZZ from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $100.71.

AZZ Price Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.65. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.23, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22. 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 announced its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be issued 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 at AZZ

In other news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was 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 owns 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,160,013.04. This trade represents a 11.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in AZZ by 554.6% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 251,823 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $20,629,000 after acquiring an additional 213,355 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 19.2% during the fourth 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 period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,612,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AZZ by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,729,287 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $223,584,000 after buying an additional 124,392 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,798,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.