AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday.

AZZ has been the subject of several other reports. Noble Financial downgraded AZZ from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. B. Riley upped their price target on AZZ from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd.

AZZ Stock Performance

NYSE AZZ traded up $0.82 on Friday, reaching $75.04. The stock had a trading volume of 410,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,587. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.31. AZZ has a 12-month low of $34.59 and a 12-month high of $84.52.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $366.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $351.67 million. AZZ had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 15.66%. AZZ’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that AZZ will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZZ in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $389,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of AZZ by 41.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,789 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $218,000 after purchasing an additional 1,398 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AZZ by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,079 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of AZZ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $485,000. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the third quarter valued at $259,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.93% of the company’s stock.

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.