Brokerages Set AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Price Target at $108.00

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $112.2857.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Noble Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Sidoti downgraded shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total transaction of $558,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 22,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,534,324.40. The trade was a 18.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.21, for a total transaction of $1,158,119.41. Following the transaction, the insider owned 16,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,576.84. The trade was a 38.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,837 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,318 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.77% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 4,220 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,606 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 4,311 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $407,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 17,528 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:AZZ opened at $112.59 on Wednesday. AZZ has a one year low of $70.90 and a one year high of $117.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 1.30. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.44.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The business had revenue of $421,962 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This is an increase from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. AZZ’s payout ratio is presently 9.27%.

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.