AutoZone's (AZO) "Overweight" Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $4,000.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $3,750.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 6.79% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on AZO. Bank of America raised shares of AutoZone from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $3,900.00 to $4,800.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of AutoZone from $3,600.00 to $3,740.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI set a $3,950.00 price target on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Monday, May 19th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of AutoZone from $4,192.00 to $4,850.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $3,995.00 target price on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $4,054.52.

AutoZone Price Performance

NYSE:AZO opened at $3,745.72 on Wednesday. The company's 50-day moving average is $3,697.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3,459.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.44. AutoZone has a 1-year low of $2,728.97 and a 1-year high of $3,916.81.

AutoZone (NYSE:AZO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 27th. The company reported $35.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $37.07 by ($1.71). The company had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.41 billion. AutoZone had a net margin of 14.18% and a negative return on equity of 53.89%. AutoZone's revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $36.69 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that AutoZone will post 152.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

In related news, SVP Bailey L. Childress sold 160 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,550.00, for a total value of $568,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50 shares in the company, valued at approximately $177,500. The trade was a 76.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Philip B. Daniele sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3,800.01, for a total transaction of $7,600,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $619,401.63. The trade was a 92.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,521 shares of company stock worth $42,177,331. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AutoZone

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AZO. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in AutoZone by 435,031.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 770,182 shares of the company's stock worth $2,936,535,000 after buying an additional 770,005 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in AutoZone by 482,040.2% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 419,462 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,343,117,000 after acquiring an additional 419,375 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in AutoZone during the 4th quarter valued at $834,556,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in AutoZone during the 4th quarter valued at $471,629,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of AutoZone in the 1st quarter worth about $442,530,000. 92.74% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AutoZone Company 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.