Crewe Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Crewe Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 87 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in AutoZone by 354,692.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 993,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,293,100,000 after buying an additional 993,139 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AutoZone by 137.6% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 310,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $918,998,000 after acquiring an additional 179,543 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone during the second quarter worth about $424,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in AutoZone by 2,714.8% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 120,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,267,000 after purchasing an additional 115,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,200.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $3,205.00 to $2,917.00 in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded AutoZone to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $3,202.71.

Insider Activity at AutoZone

In related news, Chairman William C. Rhodes III sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,075.20, for a total transaction of $922,560.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 13,857 shares in the company, valued at $42,613,046.40. The trade was a 2.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John Scott Murphy sold 1,580 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,107.69, for a total transaction of $4,910,150.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,166.42. The trade was 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 worth $46,225,660 over the last quarter. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AutoZone Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:AZO opened at $3,099.38 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $3,111.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $3,029.28. The company has a market cap of $52.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,510.00 and a 12 month high of $3,256.37.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 24th. The company reported $48.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $53.31 by ($5.20). The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.25 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.40% and a negative return on equity of 52.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $46.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 158.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AutoZone 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.