AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 425,000 shares, a decrease of 13.1% from the November 15th total of 489,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 169,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter worth $61,139,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in AZZ by 13.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,284,000 after purchasing an additional 385,240 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 81,999.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 153,526 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,860,000 after purchasing an additional 153,339 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AZZ in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,443,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of AZZ by 325.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 122,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,435,000 after purchasing an additional 93,420 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AZZ opened at $93.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50-day moving average is $85.21 and its 200 day moving average is $81.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.85. AZZ has a fifty-two week low of $52.90 and a fifty-two week high of $97.98.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The business had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $409.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.80.

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.