AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Reaches New 12-Month High After Strong Earnings

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The company traded as high as $82.41 and last traded at $81.86, with a volume of 150290 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $76.50.

The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.67 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 13.15% and a net margin of 5.63%. AZZ’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZZ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Noble Financial lowered AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, B. Riley boosted their target price on AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter valued at about $389,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in AZZ by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in AZZ by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,398 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in AZZ by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $485,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Up 8.5 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $75.03 and its 200-day moving average is $61.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.96.

AZZ Company Profile

AZZ Inc provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in the United States, Canada, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, and India. The company operates through AZZ Metal Coatings and AZZ Precoat Metals segments. The AZZ Metal Coatings segment offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries.