PDS Planning Inc Purchases 3 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 132 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 61 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in AutoZone by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 152 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in AutoZone by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in AutoZone by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 99 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in AutoZone by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 20 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 4 shares in the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AZO. Argus lowered AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on AutoZone from $3,750.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays increased their target price on AutoZone from $3,024.00 to $3,585.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Bank of America increased their target price 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. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,740.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AutoZone presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $3,651.91.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:AZO opened at $3,611.51 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $3,415.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,250.39. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12-month low of $2,728.97 and a 12-month high of $3,704.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $60.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AutoZone news, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,550.08, for a total value of $482,810.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 403 shares in the company, valued at $1,430,682.24. This trade represents a 25.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Bailey L. Childress sold 160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,550.00, for a total transaction of $568,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $177,500. This trade represents a 76.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,871 shares of company stock valued at $6,720,811 over the last ninety days. 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.