StockNews.com Downgrades AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) to Hold

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley boosted their price objective on AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Noble Financial lowered shares of AZZ from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 22nd.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AZZ traded up $0.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $75.04. 410,113 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 249,587. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.89. AZZ has a one year low of $34.59 and a one year high of $84.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.31.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 6.61%. The business had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that AZZ will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in AZZ during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in AZZ by 131.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 903 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in AZZ during the first quarter worth $92,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $197,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at $203,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company's stock.

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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