Short Interest in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Decreases By 21.1%

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 418,700 shares, a decrease of 21.1% from the October 15th total of 530,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 163,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AZZ

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AZZ by 3,790.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 389 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of AZZ by 69.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 459 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $52,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in AZZ in the second quarter valued at $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Baird R W raised shares of AZZ to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of AZZ in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZZ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.80.

AZZ Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of AZZ stock traded down $0.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $82.93. The stock had a trading volume of 252,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 155,833. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 64.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.25. AZZ has a 12-month low of $48.03 and a 12-month high of $88.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $79.36.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a net margin of 7.63% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The firm had revenue of $409.01 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $409.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.11 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.13%.

AZZ Company Profile

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.