Ninety One UK Ltd Grows Position in AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Ninety One UK Ltd raised its position in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) by 349.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 74,400 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 57,849 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned about 0.44% of AutoZone worth $276,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AZO. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 89 shares of the company’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,267,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN now owns 7,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,591,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 98.3% in the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 829 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,161,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of AutoZone in the 1st quarter worth approximately $545,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AZO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on AutoZone in a report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $4,741.00 target price for the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AutoZone in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on AutoZone from $4,504.00 to $4,499.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on AutoZone from $4,155.00 to $4,811.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,538.21.

AutoZone Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE AZO opened at $4,285.90 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4,100.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3,829.35. The firm has a market cap of $71.92 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.41. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,980.10 and a twelve month high of $4,388.11.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, September 23rd. The company reported $48.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $50.52 by ($1.81). The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.26 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 13.19% and a negative return on equity of 60.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $51.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, VP Richard Craig Smith sold 3,000 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3,875.90, for a total transaction of $11,627,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,337,007.50. The trade was a 50.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John Scott Murphy sold 2,860 shares of AutoZone stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4,175.70, for a total value of $11,942,502.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,194,570.80. This trade represents a 69.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

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.