California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in The AZEK Company Inc. (NYSE:AZEK) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,241 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,090 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.16% of AZEK worth $11,119,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in AZEK by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,430,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,032,000 after acquiring an additional 54,725 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $114,729,000 after purchasing an additional 45,774 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of AZEK by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,330,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,105,000 after purchasing an additional 12,644 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AZEK in the 4th quarter worth $94,987,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in AZEK by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,999,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,564,000 after buying an additional 90,206 shares during the last quarter. 97.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AZEK news, CEO Jesse G. Singh sold 20,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.08, for a total value of $1,020,980.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 883,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,258,951.20. This trade represents a 2.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,000 shares of company stock worth $2,518,624. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AZEK shares. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $53.00 price target (down from $58.00) on shares of AZEK in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Stephens cut shares of AZEK from an “overweight” rating to a “mixed” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AZEK from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Baird R W downgraded shares of AZEK from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $51.50 price objective (down from $61.00) on shares of AZEK in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AZEK currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.32.

AZEK Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of AZEK stock opened at $46.25 on Monday. The AZEK Company Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.48 and a twelve month high of $54.91. The stock has a market cap of $6.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.18 and a 200 day moving average of $47.59. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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.