AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Upgraded at Sidoti

Sidoti upgraded shares of AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $101.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on shares of AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.71.

AZZ Stock Up 1.2 %

AZZ stock opened at $81.85 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. AZZ has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The company has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.22.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.30 million. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 24th will be given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZZ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AZZ by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in AZZ by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in AZZ by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

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.