AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Noble Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Sidoti downgraded shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $101.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AZZ from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.29.

AZZ Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE AZZ opened at $115.18 on Friday. AZZ has a one year low of $70.90 and a one year high of $119.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $111.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $96.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a net margin of 16.40% and a return on equity of 15.54%. The firm had revenue of $421.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $435.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. AZZ’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. AZZ has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.750-6.250 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AZZ will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

AZZ Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This is a boost from AZZ’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZZ news, COO Bryan Lee Stovall sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.60, for a total value of $558,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 22,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,534,324.40. This trade represents a 18.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.21, for a total value of $1,158,119.41. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 16,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,885,576.84. The trade was a 38.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,837 shares of company stock valued at $5,195,318 over the last 90 days. 1.77% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZZ. Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in AZZ by 206.7% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in AZZ by 110.0% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 399 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. bought a new stake in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in AZZ by 39.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 374 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently 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.