AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) Rating Increased to Buy at DA Davidson

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) was upgraded by DA Davidson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $4,192.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $3,500.00. DA Davidson’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.42% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,634.00 to $3,763.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,750.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on AutoZone from $3,700.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,700.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $3,763.00 price target on AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,683.36.

AutoZone Price Performance

NYSE:AZO opened at $3,569.96 on Friday. AutoZone has a 1-year low of $2,728.97 and a 1-year high of $3,704.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3,426.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3,254.98. The firm has a market cap of $59.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.11 by ($0.82). The business had revenue of $3.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.98 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AutoZone will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at AutoZone

In related news, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 136 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,550.08, for a total value of $482,810.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,430,682.24. This trade represents a 25.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Dennis W. Leriche sold 1,575 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,600.00, for a total value of $5,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,501,200. This represents a 79.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,871 shares of company stock valued at $6,720,811. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AutoZone

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 421,716 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,326,545,000 after buying an additional 7,365 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in AutoZone by 482,040.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 419,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,343,117,000 after purchasing an additional 419,375 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in AutoZone by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 324,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,039,421,000 after buying an additional 17,518 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AutoZone in the fourth quarter valued at $834,556,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of AutoZone by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,867,000 after acquiring an additional 13,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

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.