AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) Sees Strong Trading Volume After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $54.00 to $57.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Approximately 2,365,247 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 35% from the previous session’s volume of 1,751,385 shares.The stock last traded at $48.89 and had previously closed at $48.56.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price target on AZEK from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on AZEK from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup raised shares of AZEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AZEK from $48.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of AZEK from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.03, for a total value of $615,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 868,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,645,427.95. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold 55,000 shares of company stock worth $2,518,624 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AZEK

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in AZEK by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,430,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $685,032,000 after buying an additional 54,725 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of AZEK by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,224,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,595,863 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of AZEK by 80.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,311,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,431,000 after acquiring an additional 5,499,986 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of AZEK by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,294,619 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,396,000 after purchasing an additional 429,574 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AZEK by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,451,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,729,000 after purchasing an additional 45,774 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.44% of the company’s stock.

AZEK Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.28. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. AZEK had a net margin of 9.85% and a return on equity of 13.47%. On average, analysts anticipate that The AZEK Company Inc. will post 1.34 EPS 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.