AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) VP Richard Craig Smith Sells 2,850 Shares

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) VP Richard Craig Smith sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,610.00, for a total value of $10,288,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 2,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,555,640. The trade was a 49.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE AZO opened at $3,605.88 on Friday. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,728.97 and a twelve month high of $3,704.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $3,433.28 and its 200 day moving average is $3,257.92.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $29.11 by ($0.82). AutoZone had a net margin of 14.18% and a negative return on equity of 53.89%. The firm had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AutoZone

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AZO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 482,040.2% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 419,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,343,117,000 after acquiring an additional 419,375 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AutoZone in the fourth quarter worth $834,556,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in AutoZone in the fourth quarter worth $471,629,000. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 6,083.9% in the fourth quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 90,656 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,281,000 after acquiring an additional 89,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 82.6% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 170,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,033,000 after acquiring an additional 77,015 shares in the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,700.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,700.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,490.00 to $3,750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,450.00 to $3,800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,875.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,683.36.

AutoZone Company Profile

AutoZone, Inc retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. The company provides various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products.