AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $99.49 and last traded at $99.17, with a volume of 187724 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $97.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Roth Capital raised shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, B. Riley increased their target price on shares of 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, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $88.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.97. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 16.99%. The firm had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Institutional Trading of AZZ

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PharVision Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $297,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 69,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,662,000 after buying an additional 9,531 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign s Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $897,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 51.0% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 33,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,718,000 after buying an additional 11,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,859 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $726,000 after buying an additional 2,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

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.