Short Interest in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Rises By 86.4%

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,100,000 shares, an increase of 86.4% from the February 13th total of 590,100 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 221,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days.

AZZ Stock Up 0.5 %

AZZ stock traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $86.63. The stock had a trading volume of 259,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 243,467. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.76. AZZ has a 1-year low of $69.59 and a 1-year high of $99.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.77.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The industrial products company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.99% and a net margin of 7.94%. The business had revenue of $403.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. AZZ’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 30th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.95%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of AZZ by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 515 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased 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 worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of AZZ by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,658 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $300,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 0.6% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AZZ by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZZ has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Roth Mkm initiated coverage on AZZ in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $108.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on AZZ from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Roth Capital upgraded AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on AZZ from $99.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Noble Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Four research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.67.

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.