Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC Has $8.26 Million Holdings in AutoZone, Inc. $AZO

Key Points

• Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its stake in AutoZone, Inc. by 7.5% in Q2, now holding shares valued at $8.26 million.
• Analysts have varied price targets for AutoZone, with Roth Capital lowering its target to $4,750 while BMO Capital increased it to $4,600, indicating strong overall buy sentiments.
• AutoZone reported earnings per share (EPS) of $48.71 in its recent quarter, missing estimates and showing a slight year-over-year revenue increase of 0.6%.

Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its stake in AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO - Free Report) by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,225 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 156 shares during the quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC's holdings in AutoZone were worth $8,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 203 shares of the company's stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of AutoZone in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $401,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,260 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,102,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 56.6% in the 2nd quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc now owns 202 shares of the company's stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. boosted its holdings in shares of AutoZone by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. now owns 1,653 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,136,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.74% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AZO shares. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $4,750.00 price target (down previously from $4,800.00) on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on AutoZone from $4,100.00 to $4,600.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays increased their price target on AutoZone from $3,916.00 to $4,610.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on AutoZone from $3,894.00 to $4,090.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on AutoZone from $4,100.00 to $4,600.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $4,538.21.

AutoZone Stock Performance

AZO opened at $4,259.54 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $71.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.40. AutoZone, Inc. has a 52-week low of $2,980.10 and a 52-week high of $4,388.11. The business's fifty day moving average is $4,118.04 and its 200-day moving average is $3,836.62.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at AutoZone

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

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