Roth Capital Upgrades AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) to Strong-Buy

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) was upgraded by analysts at Roth Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AZZ. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, B. Riley raised their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AZZ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $96.95 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $87.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 65.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ has a 52-week low of $67.32 and a 52-week high of $98.67.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of AZZ by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,978,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in AZZ by 51.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. 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.