AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Short Interest Update

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 527,200 shares, an increase of 6.0% from the December 31st total of 497,200 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 187,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE:AZZ opened at $85.75 on Monday. AZZ has a 12 month low of $62.43 and a 12 month high of $97.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of 57.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.78.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AZZ. FMR LLC boosted its stake in AZZ by 13.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $266,284,000 after acquiring an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 27,710 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in AZZ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $61,139,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in AZZ by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares during the period. Finally, Harvey Partners LLC increased its position in AZZ by 1.8% during the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 666,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,018,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is 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.