Brokerages Set AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) PT at $96.80

Shares of AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $96.80.

Separately, 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 report on Friday, December 6th.

AZZ Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of AZZ opened at $85.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $87.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.84. The stock has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.30. AZZ has a 12 month low of $62.43 and a 12 month high of $97.98.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The business had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. AZZ’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZZ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 3,790.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in AZZ in the 2nd quarter valued at $52,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of AZZ during the second quarter worth $67,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,244 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the period. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.