AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Monday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $74.80, but opened at $78.70. AZZ shares last traded at $77.04, with a volume of 95,351 shares.

The industrial products company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 5.63%. The company had revenue of $366.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $351.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. AZZ’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZZ has been the topic of several recent research reports. B. Riley raised their price target on AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Noble Financial downgraded AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 15,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $903,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in AZZ by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in AZZ during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in AZZ by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in AZZ by 131.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 903 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Up 8.5 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28.

About AZZ

AZZ Inc provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in the United States, Canada, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, and India. The company operates through AZZ Metal Coatings and AZZ Precoat Metals segments. The AZZ Metal Coatings segment offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries.