AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Gap Down to $82.43

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $82.43, but opened at $77.17. AZZ shares last traded at $75.71, with a volume of 109,366 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

AZZ Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.28 and a 200 day moving average of $61.35.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 6.61%. The firm had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that AZZ Inc. will post 4.83 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 19.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in AZZ by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,055,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,322,000 after acquiring an additional 106,091 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in AZZ by 4,165.2% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 410,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,694,000 after acquiring an additional 400,526 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in AZZ by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 394,920 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,000,000 after acquiring an additional 18,948 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in AZZ by 4,211.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 365,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,664,000 after acquiring an additional 357,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in AZZ by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 282,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $12,886,000 after acquiring an additional 76,697 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.