Analysts Set AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Target Price at $100.71

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.71.

Several brokerages have weighed in on AZZ. B. Riley increased their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Sidoti raised AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 18,851 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.91, for a total value of $1,694,893.41. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 192,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,317,295.37. This trade represents a 8.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of AZZ by 19.4% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 650,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $54,353,000 after buying an additional 105,723 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the first quarter worth $282,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the first quarter worth $210,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of AZZ by 151.1% in the first quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 4,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in AZZ by 8.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 2,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

AZZ stock opened at $91.55 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.74 billion, a PE ratio of 61.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.25. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $84.72 and a 200-day moving average of $87.16. AZZ has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The industrial products company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.95 by $0.03. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company had revenue of $351.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.78 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.77%.

AZZ Company Profile

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.