The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) Short Interest Update

The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,940,000 shares, a growth of 27.6% from the July 15th total of 5,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Approximately 4.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan Skelly sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.72, for a total value of $560,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 190,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,883,060.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 13,000 shares of AZEK stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.75, for a total transaction of $542,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,024,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,770,537. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jonathan Skelly sold 12,000 shares of AZEK stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.72, for a total transaction of $560,640.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 190,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,883,060.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 45,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,932,790. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AZEK

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AZEK. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of AZEK during the 2nd quarter valued at about $86,719,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in AZEK in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,418,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in AZEK by 2,948.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 788,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,166,000 after buying an additional 762,793 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in AZEK by 1,339.0% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 657,712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,157,000 after buying an additional 612,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in AZEK by 66.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,466,145 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,631,000 after buying an additional 587,107 shares in the last quarter. 97.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of AZEK from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of AZEK from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of AZEK in a report on Friday, August 9th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of AZEK from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of AZEK from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AZEK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.24.

AZEK Stock Performance

NYSE AZEK traded down $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $41.04. The company had a trading volume of 1,950,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,784,016. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 3.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.88. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.42. AZEK has a fifty-two week low of $25.03 and a fifty-two week high of $50.78.

AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. AZEK had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The company had revenue of $434.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $396.89 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that AZEK will post 1.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AZEK Company Profile

The AZEK Company Inc engages in the design, manufacturing, and selling of building products for residential, commercial, and industrial markets in the United States and Canada. It operates through two segments: Residential and Commercial. The Residential segment designs and manufactures engineered outdoor living products, such as decking, railing, trim and molding, siding and cladding, pergolas and cabanas, and accessories under the TimberTech, AZEK Exteriors, VERSATEX, ULTRALOX, StruXure, and INTEX brands.