AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) Releases Earnings Results

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $32.52 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $33.69 by ($1.17), RTT News reports. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $4.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $32.55 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.5 %

AutoZone stock opened at $3,326.95 on Tuesday. AutoZone has a 52 week low of $2,510.00 and a 52 week high of $3,345.27. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $3,134.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3,053.20. The stock has a market cap of $56.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.71.

Insider Activity

In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,107.15, for a total value of $40,392,950.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at $43,055,777.55. The trade was a 48.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,166.42. This represents a 56.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,880 shares of company stock valued at $46,225,660 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on AZO shares. Roth Capital upgraded shares of AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $3,634.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BNP Paribas raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $3,200.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,232.88.

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.