AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) Upgraded at Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated a market perform rating and issued a $2,600.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. BNP Paribas raised AutoZone to a strong-buy rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. DA Davidson restated a neutral rating and issued a $3,025.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lifted their price target on AutoZone from $3,340.00 to $3,500.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on AutoZone from $3,900.00 to $3,350.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $3,169.38.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.5 %

AutoZone stock opened at $3,066.92 on Tuesday. AutoZone has a 12-month low of $2,375.35 and a 12-month high of $3,256.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $3,134.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,012.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.39 billion, a PE ratio of 21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $53.31 by ($5.20). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 54.58% and a net margin of 14.60%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $46.46 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AutoZone will post 151.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total transaction of $4,910,150.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,166.42. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AutoZone

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of AutoZone by 35.3% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,138,000 after buying an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in AutoZone by 60.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 22,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,326,000 after purchasing an additional 8,427 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in AutoZone by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 3,509 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,059,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Peak Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in AutoZone during the 2nd quarter worth $2,816,000. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in AutoZone in the fourth quarter valued at $879,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.