Short Interest in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Rises By 6.0%

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during 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 trading volume of 187,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ during the third quarter worth about $61,139,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AZZ by 13.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,223,391 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $266,284,000 after purchasing an additional 385,240 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in AZZ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,798,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in AZZ by 1,822.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 72,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,612,000 after buying an additional 68,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new position in AZZ in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,969,000. 90.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AZZ Trading Up 0.4 %

AZZ traded up $0.36 on Friday, hitting $87.61. The company had a trading volume of 96,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 161,287. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.20, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.27. AZZ has a 1 year low of $57.16 and a 1 year high of $97.98.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $394.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that AZZ will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.