AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, an increase of 86.4% from the February 13th total of 590,100 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 221,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
AZZ has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. B. Riley raised their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.67.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
AZZ Trading Up 0.5 %
AZZ traded up $0.45 on Friday, hitting $86.63. The company had a trading volume of 259,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 243,467. The company has a market cap of $2.59 billion, a PE ratio of 58.53, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. AZZ has a 12-month low of $69.59 and a 12-month high of $99.49. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.79.
AZZ (NYSE:AZZ – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.
AZZ Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.
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.
Further Reading
- Five stocks we like better than AZZ
- What Percentage Gainers Tell Investors and Why They Don’t Tell the Whole Story
- How to Build the Ultimate Everything ETF Portfolio
- What Makes a Stock a Good Dividend Stock?
- Dutch Bros or Starbucks: Which Coffee Stock Has More Growth?
- What Are Growth Stocks and Investing in Them
- 3 Stocks With High ROE and Market-Beating Growth Potential
Receive News & Ratings for AZZ Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AZZ and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.