AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) Receives $3,044.61 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $3,080.72.

A number of brokerages have commented on AZO. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,100.00 to $3,425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $3,450.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $2,900.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,375.00 to $3,400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of AutoZone from a “c” rating to a “d+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total value of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other AutoZone news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,190.22, for a total value of $21,374,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 15,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $48,992,208.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Thomas B. Newbern sold 7,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,551.62, for a total transaction of $19,902,636.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,427,530.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,797 shares of company stock valued at $81,010,974. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $879,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $1,029,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $19,070,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $750,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Price Performance

Shares of AZO stock opened at $3,166.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $2,929.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2,708.94. AutoZone has a one year low of $2,277.88 and a one year high of $3,256.37.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $26.08 by $2.81. The business had revenue of $3.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.32 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.70% and a negative return on equity of 56.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $24.64 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that AutoZone will post 151.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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.