Prudential PLC Acquires New Position in The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK)

Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 18,729 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AZEK in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of AZEK by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of AZEK in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of AZEK in the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in AZEK by 5,452.2% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of AZEK from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of AZEK from $58.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of AZEK from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of AZEK from $49.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of AZEK in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.24.

AZEK Price Performance

AZEK stock opened at $42.49 on Friday. The AZEK Company Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.03 and a 1 year high of $50.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $42.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.17. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.87. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. AZEK’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The AZEK Company Inc. will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

AZEK declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 17th that permits the company to repurchase $600.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 9.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $829,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,705 shares in the company, valued at $7,742,656.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Jonathan Skelly sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.72, for a total value of $560,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 190,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,883,060.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $829,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,742,656.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 45,000 shares of company stock worth $1,932,790 over the last ninety days. 3.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.