AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) Cut to Hold at Baird R W

Baird R W downgraded shares of AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on AZEK. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of AZEK in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upgraded shares of AZEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of AZEK from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of AZEK from $48.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of AZEK from $58.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.32.

AZEK Stock Performance

AZEK stock opened at $48.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.45, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.95. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.30. AZEK has a fifty-two week low of $35.48 and a fifty-two week high of $54.91.

AZEK (NYSE:AZEK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that AZEK will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 19,613 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.98, for a total transaction of $882,192.74. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 904,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,668,756.96. This trade represents a 2.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,000 shares of company stock worth $2,518,624. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AZEK

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in AZEK in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. FIL Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AZEK during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of AZEK by 623.2% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 687 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of AZEK in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AZEK by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 851 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. 97.44% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.