Short Interest in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Drops By 8.7%

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) was the target of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 425,100 shares, a decline of 8.7% from the September 30th total of 465,500 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 120,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total value of $4,910,150.20. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,166.42. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,055,777.55. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,880 shares of company stock valued at $46,225,660 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AZO. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in AutoZone by 354,692.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 993,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,293,100,000 after purchasing an additional 993,139 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in AutoZone by 1.7% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 382,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,202,596,000 after buying an additional 6,226 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in AutoZone by 137.6% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $918,998,000 after acquiring an additional 179,543 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in AutoZone by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 203,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,641,000 after acquiring an additional 7,988 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of AutoZone by 564.2% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 152,091 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,338,000 after purchasing an additional 129,193 shares in the last quarter. 92.74% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on AZO shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,340.00 to $3,500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Redburn Atlantic raised AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target on AutoZone from $3,787.00 to $3,500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $3,634.00 price objective on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AutoZone currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,202.71.

AutoZone Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of AZO opened at $3,009.00 on Friday. AutoZone has a 12 month low of $2,463.45 and a 12 month high of $3,256.37. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,122.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $3,011.66. The company has a market cap of $51.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.70.

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). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.25 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 52.99% and a net margin of 14.40%. AutoZone’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $46.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AutoZone will post 157.99 EPS for the current year.

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.