AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $116.4286.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on AZZ. Wall Street Zen lowered AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of AZZ from $131.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of AZZ to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of AZZ from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Noble Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of AZZ in a research report on Monday, July 14th.

Insider Transactions at AZZ

In related news, CEO Thomas E. Ferguson sold 26,516 shares of AZZ stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.85, for a total transaction of $2,939,298.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 183,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,305,724.70. The trade was a 12.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Kurt L. Russell sold 10,321 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $1,885,576.84. This represents a 38.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,837 shares of company stock worth $5,195,318 over the last three months. 1.77% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AZZ during the 2nd quarter worth about $16,818,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in AZZ during the second quarter worth about $11,701,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in AZZ by 19.4% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 650,072 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $54,353,000 after acquiring an additional 105,723 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in AZZ in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,772,000. Finally, Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. purchased a new stake in AZZ in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,909,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZZ Stock Performance

Shares of AZZ stock opened at $106.94 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $112.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.95. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. AZZ has a 12-month low of $70.90 and a 12-month high of $119.95.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.19. AZZ had a return on equity of 15.54% and a net margin of 16.40%.The firm had revenue of $421.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $435.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. AZZ has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.750-6.250 EPS. Analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 16th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 16th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.27%.

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.