Granite Investment Partners LLC Trims Stock Holdings in The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK)

Granite Investment Partners LLC decreased its stake in The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) by 16.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 419,079 shares of the company’s stock after selling 84,829 shares during the quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.29% of AZEK worth $17,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. EMG Holdings L.P. purchased a new stake in AZEK in the second quarter worth about $1,724,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of AZEK in the second quarter worth about $287,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of AZEK in the second quarter worth about $236,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of AZEK by 203.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 142,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,960,000 after acquiring an additional 95,332 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AZEK by 15.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 803 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AZEK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on AZEK from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. DA Davidson lowered AZEK from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $57.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on AZEK from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on AZEK from $50.00 to $46.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on AZEK from $56.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AZEK currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.24.

Insider Transactions at AZEK

In other news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.75, for a total value of $542,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,024,444 shares in the company, valued at $42,770,537. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Pamela J. Edwards acquired 600 shares of AZEK stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $41.70 per share, for a total transaction of $25,020.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $363,123.60. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.75, for a total value of $542,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,024,444 shares in the company, valued at $42,770,537. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

AZEK Price Performance

NYSE:AZEK opened at $46.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 3.07 and a quick ratio of 2.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.06. The AZEK Company Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.03 and a 1 year high of $50.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.98, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.87.

AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.06. AZEK had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 11.35%. The firm had revenue of $434.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.89 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that The AZEK Company Inc. will post 1.05 EPS for the current year.

AZEK declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, June 17th that permits the company to buyback $600.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AZEK 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.