California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its holdings in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 76,865 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,156 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $246,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,700.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of AutoZone from $3,875.00 to $4,025.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. DA Davidson raised AutoZone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $3,500.00 to $4,192.00 in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AutoZone from $3,525.00 to $3,700.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $3,683.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,800.01, for a total value of $7,600,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $619,401.63. This trade represents a 92.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Dennis W. Leriche sold 1,575 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,600.00, for a total value of $5,670,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,501,200. This represents a 79.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,721 shares of company stock valued at $24,609,331 over the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AutoZone Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE AZO opened at $3,769.72 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $63.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71. AutoZone, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2,728.97 and a 1 year high of $3,838.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $3,483.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3,280.69.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The company reported $28.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $29.11 by ($0.82). AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The company had revenue of $3.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.98 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 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.