Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Grows Position in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,820 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $25,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AZO. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 61 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of AutoZone by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 3 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in AutoZone by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 10 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 3 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in AutoZone by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 20 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 4 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE AZO opened at $3,769.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $63.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3,483.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3,278.52. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2,728.97 and a 52 week high of $3,838.00.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $29.11 by ($0.82). The firm 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%. On average, research analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at AutoZone

In related news, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,800.01, for a total value of $7,600,020.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $619,401.63. This represents a 92.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Bailey L. Childress sold 160 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,550.00, for a total transaction of $568,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50 shares in the company, valued at $177,500. This trade represents a 76.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,721 shares of company stock valued at $24,609,331. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Argus cut AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on AutoZone from $3,634.00 to $3,763.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. DA Davidson raised shares of AutoZone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $3,500.00 to $4,192.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,500.00 to $3,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $3,700.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,683.36.

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.