Grandfield & Dodd LLC Buys 10 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,836 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10 shares during the quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $12,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AZO. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AutoZone by 232,194.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 731,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,891,963,000 after acquiring an additional 731,413 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in AutoZone by 107,977.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 699,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,724,500,000 after acquiring an additional 698,613 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in AutoZone by 368.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 411,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $841,242,000 after acquiring an additional 323,536 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in AutoZone in the 4th quarter valued at about $658,788,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in AutoZone by 111.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 335,190 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,379,000 after acquiring an additional 176,623 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In other AutoZone news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,997.76, for a total value of $8,993,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,756,456.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 4,190 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,161.68, for a total transaction of $13,247,439.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,845,512. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,997.76, for a total transaction of $8,993,280.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,921 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,756,456.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 15,990 shares of company stock valued at $50,335,193 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Price Performance

NYSE:AZO traded up $12.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2,985.54. The stock had a trading volume of 114,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 124,587. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $3,005.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2,757.38. AutoZone, Inc. has a one year low of $2,277.88 and a one year high of $3,256.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.70.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $28.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $26.08 by $2.81. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.70% and a negative return on equity of 56.06%. The firm had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $24.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on AZO shares. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of AutoZone from $3,363.00 to $3,523.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,000.00 to $3,200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $2,900.00 to $3,100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut shares of AutoZone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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 report on Wednesday, February 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AutoZone currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3,086.61.

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.