AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Short Interest Update

by · The Markets Daily

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZGet Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 920,100 shares, a decrease of 16.4% from the February 28th total of 1,100,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 248,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZZ has been the subject of several analyst reports. Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Roth Capital raised AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm began coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AZZ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

Read Our Latest Research Report on AZZ

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ traded down $6.93 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $80.64. 97,309 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 247,156. AZZ has a twelve month low of $69.59 and a twelve month high of $99.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.49, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $90.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.47.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB acquired a new position in AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,798,000. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC purchased a new position in shares of AZZ in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,421,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 131,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $10,772,000 after purchasing an additional 8,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,823,000 after purchasing an additional 10,072 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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