MQS Management LLC Buys Shares of 170 AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $631,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AZO. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in AutoZone by 7,358.8% during the 2nd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 243,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $902,929,000 after buying an additional 239,970 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone during the first quarter worth $442,530,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 7.5% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 936,401 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,570,296,000 after purchasing an additional 65,368 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 349.5% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 74,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,190,000 after purchasing an additional 57,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 4,484.3% during the second quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 27,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,917,000 after purchasing an additional 26,592 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company’s stock.

AutoZone Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of AutoZone stock opened at $3,801.30 on Friday. AutoZone, Inc. has a twelve month low of $2,980.10 and a twelve month high of $4,388.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $4,141.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $3,876.96.

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). AutoZone had a net margin of 13.19% and a negative return on equity of 60.49%. The firm had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $51.58 EPS. AutoZone’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AutoZone, Inc. will post 152.94 EPS for the current year.

AutoZone declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AutoZone news, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4,020.88, for a total value of $10,184,889.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 55 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $221,148.40. This trade represents a 97.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP John Scott Murphy sold 2,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 1,244 shares in the company, valued at $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. 2.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AZO has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on AutoZone from $4,100.00 to $4,600.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Mizuho raised their price objective on AutoZone from $3,740.00 to $4,050.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on AutoZone from $3,894.00 to $4,090.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on AutoZone from $4,250.00 to $4,500.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on AutoZone from $4,300.00 to $4,900.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AutoZone has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $4,544.68.

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.