AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the industrial products company on Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is a 17.6% increase from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17.

AZZ has a payout ratio of 10.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect AZZ to earn $5.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.7%.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $95.33 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.95 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. AZZ has a 52 week low of $69.59 and a 52 week high of $99.49.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a net margin of 8.17% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The business had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $367.78 million. Sell-side analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at AZZ

In other AZZ news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total transaction of $1,694,893.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 192,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,317,295.37. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in AZZ by 21.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 84,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,030,000 after acquiring an additional 14,965 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in AZZ by 185.9% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 51,122 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 33,238 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in AZZ by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 17,488 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in AZZ by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 12,619 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,213 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on AZZ shares. Sidoti lowered AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AZZ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.00.

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.