AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Lifted to “Hold” at Baird R W

Baird R W upgraded shares of AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a neutral rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of AZZ from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Noble Financial upgraded shares of AZZ from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of AZZ from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Friday, June 14th. They set an outperform rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AZZ currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $95.80.

AZZ Stock Up 3.7 %

NYSE AZZ opened at $82.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.57. AZZ has a twelve month low of $43.48 and a twelve month high of $88.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 76.91, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.16. AZZ had a net margin of 7.22% and a return on equity of 17.08%. The business had revenue of $413.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $403.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that AZZ will post 4.93 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total value of $1,233,270.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,800. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total value of $1,233,270.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,800. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Tara D. Mackey sold 331 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $27,638.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,858,121.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 1,511 shares of company stock worth $52,794. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 1.2% in the first quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 14,945 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,155,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 69.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 38.6% in the second quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 21,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 7.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.