AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 418,700 shares, a drop of 21.1% from the October 15th total of 530,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 163,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. FMR LLC increased its stake in AZZ by 13.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $266,284,000 after acquiring an additional 385,240 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,726,037 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $210,750,000 after acquiring an additional 28,609 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in AZZ by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,147,513 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,646,000 after buying an additional 53,188 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC grew its position in shares of AZZ by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 666,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,018,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 269,101 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $20,788,000 after purchasing an additional 25,714 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on AZZ in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Baird R W raised shares of AZZ to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird started coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AZZ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.80.

AZZ Price Performance

AZZ stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $83.44. 43,481 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 228,737. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.19. The firm has a market cap of $2.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.25. AZZ has a 1-year low of $48.03 and a 1-year high of $88.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 7.63%. The firm had revenue of $409.01 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $409.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is 53.13%.

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.