AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $100.67.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AZZ shares. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley lifted 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. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in AZZ by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in AZZ by 202.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in AZZ by 2,150.0% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in AZZ by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ opened at $86.63 on Friday. AZZ has a 1 year low of $69.59 and a 1 year high of $99.49. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $90.45 and a 200-day moving average of $85.79.

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

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

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.