AZZ’s (AZZ) “Buy (A-)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reiterated their buy (a-) rating on shares of AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) in a report released on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Zacks Research cut AZZ from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen cut AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, B. Riley raised their price objective on AZZ from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.43.

AZZ Price Performance

AZZ opened at $98.58 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. AZZ has a 12 month low of $70.90 and a 12 month high of $119.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.22. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $129.87 million during the quarter. AZZ had a net margin of 19.69% and a return on equity of 15.71%. On average, research analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 16th. AZZ’s payout ratio is presently 7.69%.

Insider Activity

In other AZZ news, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.21, for a total transaction of $1,158,119.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,576.84. The trade was a 38.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total transaction of $558,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 22,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,534,324.40. This represents a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,837 shares of company stock worth $5,195,318. Corporate insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in AZZ by 2.3% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 168,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,105,000 after purchasing an additional 3,854 shares in the last quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its position in AZZ by 16.6% during the first quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 3,316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the first quarter worth $338,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of AZZ by 16,255.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,873,000 after buying an additional 22,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the first quarter worth $347,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.