AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) gapped up before the market opened on Monday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $74.80, but opened at $78.70. AZZ shares last traded at $77.04, with a volume of 95,351 shares changing hands.

The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $366.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $351.67 million. AZZ had a net margin of 5.63% and a return on equity of 13.15%. AZZ’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS.

AZZ Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. AZZ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZZ has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of AZZ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Noble Financial lowered shares of AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZZ. Claro Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 1st quarter valued at $237,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $1,162,000. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL bought a new position in shares of AZZ during the 4th quarter valued at $2,082,000. Institutional investors own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

AZZ Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average is $75.03 and its 200 day moving average is $61.20. The company has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.28.

About AZZ

AZZ Inc provides hot-dip galvanizing and coil coating solutions in the United States, Canada, Brazil, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, and India. The company operates through AZZ Metal Coatings and AZZ Precoat Metals segments. The AZZ Metal Coatings segment offers metal finishing solutions for corrosion protection, including hot-dip galvanizing, spin galvanizing, powder coating, anodizing, and plating to steel fabrication and other industries.