AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) Upgraded at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $4,192.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $3,500.00.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on AutoZone from $3,525.00 to $3,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Guggenheim upped their price target on AutoZone from $3,750.00 to $3,850.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Truist Financial upped their price target on AutoZone from $3,753.00 to $3,841.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,740.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Argus cut AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,683.36.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of AZO opened at $3,605.88 on Friday. AutoZone has a 52 week low of $2,728.97 and a 52 week high of $3,704.43. The company has a market capitalization of $60.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $3,433.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $3,259.40.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AutoZone will post 152.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP K. Michelle Borninkhof sold 136 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,550.08, for a total transaction of $482,810.88. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Bailey L. Childress sold 160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,550.00, for a total value of $568,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,500. This represents a 76.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,721 shares of company stock worth $17,009,311. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DSG Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $7,931,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of AutoZone by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,961 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,088,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new position in AutoZone in the fourth quarter valued at $240,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its holdings in AutoZone by 630.1% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 1,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. Finally, Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in AutoZone in the fourth quarter valued at $157,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.