AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on AZZ. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Sidoti downgraded AZZ from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 9th. 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 research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $108.00.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $105.95. The stock had a trading volume of 503,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 221,738. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $93.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.05. AZZ has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $113.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

AZZ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is a boost from AZZ's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. AZZ's payout ratio is 50.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,889 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 211,458 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,160,013.04. This represents a 11.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.77% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 4.8% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 124,392 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in AZZ by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,110,831 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $90,999,000 after acquiring an additional 29,306 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in AZZ by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 882,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $72,279,000 after acquiring an additional 142,215 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in AZZ by 19.4% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 650,072 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $54,353,000 after acquiring an additional 105,723 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in AZZ by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 352,225 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $28,854,000 after buying an additional 64,023 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.