Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 200 Shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 20.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AutoZone were worth $3,050,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in AutoZone by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 111 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $10,030,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in AutoZone by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,447,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new position in AutoZone during the fourth quarter worth $1,345,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in AutoZone by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $683,867,000 after purchasing an additional 13,771 shares during the period. 92.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AZO shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $4,000.00 target price (up previously from $3,750.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Oppenheimer raised shares of AutoZone from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $4,600.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,830.00 to $4,350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of AutoZone from $4,192.00 to $4,850.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AutoZone presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $4,072.24.

AutoZone Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE AZO opened at $3,634.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $60.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.28, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.40. AutoZone, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2,801.49 and a 12 month high of $3,916.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $3,695.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3,509.18.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $35.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $37.07 by ($1.71). The business had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.41 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 53.89% and a net margin of 14.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $36.69 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Domingo Hurtado sold 4,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,660.00, for a total transaction of $17,568,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $581,940. The trade was a 96.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 2,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,610.00, for a total value of $10,288,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 2,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,555,640. This trade represents a 49.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,762 shares of company stock valued at $147,189,762. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.