Townsend & Associates Inc Sells 1,065 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Townsend & Associates Inc trimmed its holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,426 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,065 shares during the period. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $13,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,759,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,709,967,000 after acquiring an additional 13,643 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in AutoZone by 7.5% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 936,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,570,296,000 after purchasing an additional 65,368 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in AutoZone by 7.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 349,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,331,870,000 after purchasing an additional 24,701 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 3.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 281,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,045,709,000 after purchasing an additional 10,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 239,970 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AZO. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $4,250.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on AutoZone from $4,504.00 to $4,499.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $4,750.00 target price (down previously from $4,800.00) on shares of AutoZone in a report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AutoZone from $4,100.00 to $4,600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on AutoZone from $4,300.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AutoZone currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,544.68.

AutoZone Stock Performance

NYSE AZO opened at $4,031.84 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $4,150.99 and its 200 day moving average is $3,865.73. AutoZone, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $2,980.10 and a fifty-two week high of $4,388.11. The company has a market capitalization of $67.65 billion, a PE ratio of 27.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.40.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 23rd. The company reported $48.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $50.52 by ($1.81). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 60.49% and a net margin of 13.19%.The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $51.58 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

AutoZone declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, October 8th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at AutoZone

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

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.