AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 563,928 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 160% from the previous session’s volume of 216,537 shares.The stock last traded at $96.36 and had previously closed at $96.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $108.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AZZ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $100.67.

AZZ Stock Performance

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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.64. The stock has a market cap of $2.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $403.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.30 million. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AZZ Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AZZ by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in AZZ by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 24,151 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in AZZ by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About AZZ

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.