Short Interest in AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) Decreases By 13.1%

AZZ Inc. (NYSE:AZZ) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 425,000 shares, a decline of 13.1% from the November 15th total of 489,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 169,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZZ

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AZZ. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of AZZ in the third quarter worth about $61,139,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of AZZ by 13.6% in the 3rd 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. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of AZZ by 81,999.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 153,526 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,860,000 after purchasing an additional 153,339 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in AZZ in the second quarter valued at about $8,443,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in AZZ by 325.3% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 122,141 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,435,000 after acquiring an additional 93,420 shares in the last quarter. 90.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

AZZ Stock Down 3.7 %

AZZ stock traded down $3.54 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $90.95. The stock had a trading volume of 40,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 225,856. AZZ has a 52-week low of $53.12 and a 52-week high of $97.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $85.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.33. The firm has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.30.

AZZ (NYSE:AZZ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 9th. The industrial products company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. AZZ had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 7.63%. The business had revenue of $409.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $409.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AZZ will post 5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZZ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. AZZ’s payout ratio is presently 53.13%.

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.