AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 527,200 shares, a growth of 6.0% from the December 15th total of 497,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 187,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

AZZ Price Performance

Shares of AZZ traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $87.61. The stock had a trading volume of 96,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 161,287. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $87.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.27. AZZ has a 52 week low of $57.16 and a 52 week high of $97.98.

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

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s payout ratio is 45.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.80.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AZZ. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AZZ by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $266,284,000 after acquiring an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of AZZ by 4.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,147,513 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,646,000 after purchasing an additional 53,188 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of AZZ by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,100,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $90,887,000 after purchasing an additional 27,710 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in AZZ in the 3rd quarter worth about $61,139,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AZZ by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 675,603 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,823,000 after buying an additional 10,072 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

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.