AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Gap Down to $46.12

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ – Get Rating) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $46.12, but opened at $44.38. AZZ shares last traded at $44.23, with a volume of 200 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AZZ. StockNews.com upgraded AZZ from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $48.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday. Sidoti raised shares of AZZ from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of AZZ from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, October 14th.

AZZ Trading Down 4.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $40.87 and its 200 day moving average is $40.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.76 and a beta of 1.24.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 10th. The industrial products company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.09. AZZ had a negative net margin of 2.46% and a positive return on equity of 15.04%. The firm had revenue of $373.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $359.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. AZZ’s quarterly revenue was up 176.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that AZZ Inc. will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Ken Lavelle bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $34.68 per share, for a total transaction of $69,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,839.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Texas Permanent School Fund lifted its stake in shares of AZZ by 1.9% during the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 17,844 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 338 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp raised its stake in AZZ by 7.8% during the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 5,447 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $199,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in AZZ by 69.5% during the third quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 1,090 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in AZZ by 0.8% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 74,181 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,578,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in AZZ by 31.5% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.47% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Company Profile

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AZZ Inc offers galvanizing and metal coating solutions, welding solutions, specialty electrical equipment, and engineered services to the power generation, transmission, distribution, refining, and industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Infrastructure Solutions and Metal Coatings.