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 morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on AZZ. Robert W. Baird started coverage on AZZ in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a neutral rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded AZZ from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on AZZ in a research report on Friday, June 14th. They issued an outperform rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on AZZ in a research report on Monday, May 20th. They set a buy rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, Noble Financial raised AZZ from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $95.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $95.80.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE AZZ opened at $82.29 on Tuesday. AZZ has a fifty-two week low of $43.48 and a fifty-two week high of $88.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.25. The business has a fifty day moving average of $80.26 and a 200-day moving average of $74.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 10th. The industrial products company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $413.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $403.25 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 17.08% and a net margin of 7.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that AZZ will post 4.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. 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 is presently 63.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total transaction of $1,233,270.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,800. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 14,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.79, for a total transaction of $1,233,270.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,695,800. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tara D. Mackey sold 331 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $27,638.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 34,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,858,121.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,511 shares of company stock worth $52,794 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZZ. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AZZ in the first quarter worth about $32,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 69.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AZZ in the second quarter worth about $72,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 38.6% during the second quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 951 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AZZ during the first quarter valued at approximately $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.