AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Upgraded at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

AZZ has been the subject of several other reports. B. Riley upped their price target on AZZ from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Noble Financial upgraded AZZ from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. StockNews.com lowered AZZ from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Robert W. Baird began coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday. They set a neutral rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on AZZ in a research note on Friday, June 14th. They set an outperform rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $95.80.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE AZZ opened at $79.49 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $80.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.40. AZZ has a twelve month low of $43.48 and a twelve month high of $88.67. The company has a market capitalization of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 74.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.16. AZZ had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 7.22%. The firm had revenue of $413.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $403.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that AZZ will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total value of $1,233,270.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,695,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total value of $1,233,270.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,695,800. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tara D. Mackey sold 331 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $27,638.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,858,121.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 1,511 shares of company stock valued at $52,794 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $1,162,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $61,322,000 after purchasing an additional 106,091 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of AZZ by 176.7% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 12,599 shares during the period. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $2,082,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $1,286,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.