The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) saw a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,470,000 shares, a drop of 10.0% from the September 15th total of 6,080,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,970,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AZEK. UBS Group reduced their price objective on AZEK from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of AZEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of AZEK in a research report on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson cut shares of AZEK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $57.00 to $44.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on AZEK from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at AZEK

In other AZEK news, Director Pamela J. Edwards acquired 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $41.70 per share, for a total transaction of $25,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 8,708 shares in the company, valued at $363,123.60. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total value of $829,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,705 shares in the company, valued at $7,742,656.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Pamela J. Edwards bought 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $41.70 per share, for a total transaction of $25,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $363,123.60. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZEK

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AZEK. Creative Planning grew its holdings in AZEK by 6.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AZEK in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Paladin Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in AZEK in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in AZEK by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in AZEK by 905.3% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 27,785 shares during the last quarter. 97.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AZEK Price Performance

AZEK stock traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 474,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,737,656. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a PE ratio of 43.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.88. AZEK has a fifty-two week low of $25.03 and a fifty-two week high of $50.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 3.07.

AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.06. AZEK had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 13.38%. The firm had revenue of $434.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AZEK will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

About AZEK

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.