AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Gap Down to $82.43

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $82.43, but opened at $77.17. AZZ shares last traded at $75.71, with a volume of 109,366 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Noble Financial cut shares of AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of AZZ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

AZZ Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $75.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 1.89. The company has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.28.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.23. AZZ had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The business had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.67 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. AZZ’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AZZ Inc. will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is 19.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in AZZ in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $389,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of AZZ by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,357 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of AZZ by 41.2% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of AZZ by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter valued at $485,000. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AZZ

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.