Blair William & Co. IL Sells 11 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Blair William & Co. IL trimmed its stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,105 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $4,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 7,358.8% in the second quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 243,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $902,929,000 after acquiring an additional 239,970 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone in the first quarter worth $442,530,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of AutoZone by 7.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 936,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,570,296,000 after purchasing an additional 65,368 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of AutoZone by 349.5% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 74,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,190,000 after purchasing an additional 57,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of AutoZone by 4,484.3% in the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 27,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,917,000 after purchasing an additional 26,592 shares during the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AZO shares. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Citigroup decreased their price target on AutoZone from $4,900.00 to $4,775.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Zacks Research cut AutoZone from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on AutoZone from $4,900.00 to $4,800.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on AutoZone from $4,000.00 to $4,700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4,544.68.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of AZO opened at $4,094.61 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $4,152.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,859.75. The stock has a market cap of $68.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.40. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,980.10 and a 52 week high of $4,388.11.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 23rd. The company reported $48.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $50.52 by ($1.81). The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.26 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 60.49% and a net margin of 13.19%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $51.58 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AutoZone declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, October 8th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 2,860 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,175.70, for a total value of $11,942,502.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 1,244 shares in the company, valued at $5,194,570.80. This represents a 69.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,875.90, for a total value of $11,627,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,337,007.50. This trade represents a 50.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

About AutoZone

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.