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

The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK – Get Rating) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,240,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the February 13th total of 5,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 4.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

AZEK Stock Down 2.3 %

AZEK stock opened at $21.64 on Friday. AZEK has a twelve month low of $15.12 and a twelve month high of $30.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.05, a PEG ratio of 7.40 and a beta of 1.61. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $24.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.45.

AZEK (NYSE:AZEK – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 8th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.01. AZEK had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 2.49%. The firm had revenue of $216.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.14 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AZEK will post 0.5 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on AZEK shares. TheStreet upgraded AZEK from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Thursday, December 29th. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on AZEK from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 10th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on AZEK from $21.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 29th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AZEK from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on AZEK from $28.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZEK has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.28.

Insider Buying and Selling at AZEK

In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total transaction of $295,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 254,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,788,896.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.72, for a total transaction of $295,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 254,793 shares in the company, valued at $5,788,896.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Skelly sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.83, for a total value of $476,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 216,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,160,839.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 4,803,000 shares of company stock valued at $125,078,160. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in AZEK by 272.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,973,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,460 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in AZEK by 848.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,104,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882,284 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in AZEK by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,017,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,388 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in AZEK by 11.6% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,849,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,144,000 after purchasing an additional 919,638 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in AZEK by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,694,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,126,000 after purchasing an additional 917,967 shares in the last quarter. 99.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AZEK

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