AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 527,200 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the December 15th total of 497,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 187,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 3,790.0% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 379 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at about $52,000. CWM LLC increased its position in AZZ by 51.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in AZZ during the 2nd quarter worth about $67,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in AZZ during the 2nd quarter valued at about $100,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of AZZ opened at $87.61 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.20, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.35. AZZ has a 52-week low of $57.16 and a 52-week high of $97.98.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.