AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Reaches New 1-Year High After Strong Earnings

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $82.41 and last traded at $81.86, with a volume of 150290 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.50.

The industrial products company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 5.63%. The business had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.67 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AZZ shares. B. Riley upped their price target on AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Noble Financial lowered AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZZ. Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AZZ during the first quarter worth $237,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in AZZ during the first quarter worth $215,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AZZ during the first quarter worth $32,000. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter worth $1,162,000. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new position in AZZ during the fourth quarter worth $2,082,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Up 7.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.93. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28.

AZZ Company Profile

AZZ Inc provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in the United States, Canada, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, and India. The company operates through AZZ Metal Coatings and AZZ Precoat Metals segments. The AZZ Metal Coatings segment offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries.